Kwasi Ernest
Ernest Kwasi Ennin, popular music producer and the chief executive of Media Excel Productions, has promised to transform the fortunes of the Ghana Music Right Organisation (GHAMRO) when elected as a board member.
The producer, who is contesting for board membership position in the upcoming GHAMRO election, thinks his eventual election to the position as GHAMRO board member would result in an improved recognition and respect for the organisation as well as contribute to improving the general standard of living of the right owners.
The producer again promised to help GHAMRO to open offices in all the 16 regional capitals in the country to enable smooth collection of royalties for the right owners.
Speaking in an interview with BEATWAVES in his office yesterday, Kwasi Ernest said he would ensure that the rights of Ghanaian artistes are protected when elected as board member.
According to him, he was ready to improve on ways of collecting and distributing royalties for music right owners.
He also said he would introduce logging system to monitor music users and also expand the scope of the music royalty collection system in the country.
The producer mentioned that he would help to establish communication department for the collective society as well as establish strong working relationship between the management of the society and government.
“Going forward, the new board will roll out a complete image branding of GHAMRO and its collection system in each region of Ghana, this will be accompanied by weekly task force activities,” he said.
According to him, the collective society needs to engage the judiciary to create an environment that punishes those involved in the illegal use of music, adding that the Ghanaian music industry had historically relied on the legal environment and copyright law to protect its rights and its business structure.
Kwasi Ernest stressed that the activities of illegal music users, if not checked, could kill creativity in the music industry as they were living on the sweat and toil of musicians and music producers, saying a large number of music icons were now unemployed due to the refusal of music users to pay royalties.
He indicated that GHAMRO would continue to support the law enforcement agencies to deal drastically with all those who infringe on Ghana’s copyright laws.
GHAMRO is a collective society responsible for collecting and distributing royalties to music right owners.
It was established under Section 49 of the Copyright Law, Act 690 of 2005 and regulated under Copyright Regulation, L.I. 1962 of 2010 to collect and distribute royalties accruing to authors and owners of copyright and neighbouring rights.
By George Clifford Owusu