What you missed at the 4th ‘DH Golden Music Seminar’

The December edition of the DH Golden Music Seminar was hosted at the Chez Royal Hotel in Kumasi.

Powered by GHMusic Publishing and Management, the event which forms part of activities lined up for the golden jubilee celebration of gospel music legend Diana Hopeson was highly successful as many industry players partook and acquired more knowledge about the creative space.

Timothy Whincop, Head of Hillsong Music and Resources, Australia who was the guest speaker mentioned the three main areas of the industry - the artistry, business, and facilitators who share the products - and explained in details what each of these branches is made up of and what their roles contribute to the entire music industry.

He also talked about the legal issues, songwriting, the songwriter, and the essence of old and younger musicians in collaborations or features. He took the time to answer the several questions asked by participants.

Whincop remarked that he has studied the Ghanaian gospel terrain and liked the music of Frank Edzii, Luigi McLean, Eugene Zuta, and Efe Grace. He further admitted that the Ghanaian gospel music terrain has very good music with great sound and audio visuals yet lack in naming brands! Brand names, he posited, are weak.

He did explain that Hillsong is a church and has succeeded in making available their church culture to the world. He hammered on the need to be original than just copying other sounds or music from other cultures.

Whincop also mentioned the Hillsong Ghana version undertaken by GHMusic Publishing. An EP for Hillsong Ghana in Twi, Fante, Ga, Ewe, and Hausa will be released soon.

In attendance were Miss Aurelia J. Schultz, Counsel, Policy & International Affairs, U.S. Copyright Office, Washinton; Anastasia Rodriguez, Business Development for Global Music Monitoring; Nigeria’s Ms. Adeyemi Olubukola, Acting General Manager for the Nigeria Audio-Visual Rights Society.

Also in attendance were Ghana’s Dr. Benjamin Amakye-Boateng, Lecturer at Department of Music, Univ of Ghana; Pastor Helen Yawson, Rev. Gyebi, Lady Pastor Mouha Fahassy, and Abena Ruthy who are all Council Members of the Christian Music Association of Ghana (CMAG); Daniel Dadson, Akese Brempong, Sika Coleman, GHMusic Publishing and Management team, among others.