Enoch Agyapong
Copyright advocate and Chief Executive Officer of Speech Music Production, Enoch Agyapong, has advised up-and-coming artistes to stop giving out their songs to bloggers to upload them for free downloads in the name of promotion.
Mr. Agyapong, who doubles as an artiste manager, also stated that the era of freebies was over and entreated artiste and their management to rise to the occasion to help improve Ghana’s music industry.
“Our industry has gone through a lot of phases, and I must admit that initially artistes and even some producers were giving out their songs to some bloggers to upload for free downloads simply because radio became expensive to patronise,” Mr. Agyapong pointed out.
He added, “Music is not a free commodity anymore, especially in this era of aggregators and business platforms like iTunes, Spotify, Boom play, Audio Mack and a host of others.”
Mr. Agyapong further entreated artiste managers to search for a good aggregator and sign distribution deals in order to earn money from their intellectual property and stop allowing bloggers to take advantage of their work to make money.
He also commended the founder of Ghana DJ Awards, Mercury Quaye, for dedicating one hour of his airtime on prime radio to good songs, adding, “I know the DJ fraternity will also replicate the great gesture to help build this great industry.”
The music producer, in an interview with BEATWAVES, however, has expressed concern about the myriad of challenges confronting the creative industry, saying if nothing is done it will collapse.
According to him, if the stakeholders in the creative industry want the industry to be recognised on the international scene, they need to structure the industry to meet international standards.
He added that the industry which had nothing to write home about, could only survive when legal and proper policies were put in place.
The music producer stressed that the stakeholders needed to work out mechanisms, employ professionals to train them in the area of filmmaking, music production and distribution among others to boost the image of the industry to the outside world.
Enock Agyapong noted that without effective structures and policies in place, “we cannot claim Ghana has an industry called creative industry.”
“We don’t need anything but good structures and policies. There are no structures put in place to streamline the operations of the industry players,” he disclosed.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke