Seth Amponsah, GAPI Chairman
The Chairman of the Ghana Association for Phonographic Industry (GAPI), Seth Amponsah, has announced the association will soon embark on massive anti-piracy exercise throughout the country to smoke out all those behind music piracy.
According to him, the association, which is made up of music producers in the country, will collaborate with the Ghana Police, Copyright Office, and the Ghana Music Right Organisation (GHAMRO) in the anti-piracy exercise.
He told BEATWAVES in an interview that the activities of music pirates in Ghana and other part of the world had unleashed economic hardships on musicians and their producers, saying the practice, if not checked, can kill creativity.
He mentioned that music pirates are living on the sweat and toil of musicians and producers, adding, “We are ready to deal with them.”
The chairman indicated that, the anti-piracy exercise will be sustained until the activities of the pirates and their agents are brought to an end.
He disclosed that piracy had killed the creative industry in Ghana, and it has rendered a large number of music stakeholders unemployed due to the increasing rate of piracy in the country’s music industry.
Seth Amponsah stated that GAPI will not relent in its efforts to dismantle the nefarious operations of these nation destroyers, who build their wealth on copyright theft.
BEATWAVES gathered that most musical works were being sold on many music digital platforms by unknown individuals, making it very difficult to track them.
On his part, the General Secretary of GAPI, Richmond Adu Poku, said “music piracy is like corruption, and what we the music stakeholders have to do is to minimise it.
“Those behind music piracy have taken advantage of the loopholes in the industry to enrich themselves.
“We must educate and tell the people involved in piracy that what they are doing is wrong.”
He, however, urged music stakeholders to come together and work as a team to bring to an end the activities of pirates.
BY George Clifford Owusu