Renowned music producer and copyright advocate, Enock Agyapong, has called on the anti-piracy committee not to spare anybody caught pirating musical works of Ghanaian musicians on the market.
He also appealed to the committee to embark on a massive anti-piracy exercise to curb the increasing rate of piracy in the music industry.
Also a researcher, the music producer mentioned that if harsh measures are not taken to curb the current spate of piracy and payola, the country’s music industry would collapse in no time.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with BEATWAVES in Accra, the chief executive officer of Speech Productions explained that “because music pirates do not incur much cost as the producers in the music industry, they sell the pirated products very cheap.”
He disclosed that the music industry has been on the decline over the last 15 years due to the negligence of laws that have to check the activities of those behind music piracy.
The producer stressed that he is ready to fight music pirates until all intellectual property thieves are flushed out of the system and brought to justice.
On the issue of payola, Enock expressed his view that radio DJs and presenters who openly declare support for payola have endorsed crime against musicians.
According to him, payola has really crippled the Ghanaian music industry, forcing a number of music producers and musicians out of business.
He said, “It is not good. In Ghana, musicians do not earn much and there is no need for them to give money for their music to be played. If a piece of music is good, it should be able to sell itself. The radio DJs and presenters should stop collecting money from musicians before playing their music on air. I will continue to fight them until they stop taking payola from musicians and producers. Right now, the Ghanaian music industry seems to be in coma and it is just hanging.”
Enock hinted that most of the Ghanaian musicians who are victims of payola have complained bitterly that the practice is “unfair and it is killing them.”
By George Clifford Owusu