Ghanaian Hip-pop rapper, Kwaw Kese has recently made bitter complains over his 20 years of existence in the music industry without receiving any royalty.
The rapper took to his Twitter to bemoan the situation of the music industry in the nation and highlight how challenging it is for artists to gain exposure as the sole financiers of their art forms.
“I’ve performed music in Ghana for 20 years, but I’ve never received any royalties. Paying Dj(s) to play your music, TV to display your videos, bloggers to blog your stuff, and press media to give you coverage is preferable.
How are you going to make it in this business paying for everything yourself? He tweeted on December 15th.
The founder of Madtime Entertainment then contrasted music production in his native nation to that done “elsewhere,” where a friend “produced one song for a performer and has made over 2 million dollars,” in a subsequent tweet.
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“Down here, you only get paid with insults and disrespect,” he bemoaned. “Release a song today and tomorrow they’ll be asking when are you releasing a new song?”
“Elsewhere somewhere my friend produced one song for a musician and has made over 2 million dollars for producing the song . Down here you only get paid with insults and disrespect,” he added.
He continued; “Release a song today and tomorrow they’ll be asking when are you releasing a new song. Don’t release a song in a year and they’ll say your time pass lol. Release a song and they’ll say it’s not a hit song.”
Kwaw Kese adds that the situation is the same for his colleagues in the industry and has left the bulk of them “broke.”
“I bet a lot of our musicians are not getting paid but social media pressure, they will smile on social media and cry at home. More are broke,” he added.
As members of a collection society, the owners of the copyright to a song are paid through music royalties for the usage of their original works.
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For years on end, the problem of music royalties has occupied a lot of Ghanaian musicians’ minds.
Musicians in the nation are plagued by the inefficient processes and structures controlling intellectual property.
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