Shatta Wale
Few weeks after some outstanding royalties were paid to some musicians, dancehall artiste Shattawale has asked the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) to pay his share of the royalties or face dire consequences.
The controversial dancehall artiste, known for his radical way of handling issues, on Wednesday posted on Facebook wall, “GHAMRO, are you ready to pay my royalties or you want me to go haywire?”
Prior to the organisation’s congress to elect new board members, some musicians had complained about delay in payment of some outstanding royalties.
However, few weeks ago, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GHAMRO, Prince Tsegah, disclosed that so far the new administration led by Rex Omar has distributed an amount of GH¢1,746,000 as outstanding royalties to about 80 percent of right owners, but failed to tell the stakeholders the criteria used by the collective society to distribute the royalties.
Mr Tsegah explained that an amount of GH¢411,640 which forms part of royalties collected from last year was added to the statutory distribution of GH¢1,334,400, thus, raising the current distribution amount for the December 2016 royalties to GH¢1,746,000, an increase of 20 percent.