Musicians adopt contract

Members of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) have resolved to adopt written contracts in their dealings with all individuals and organizations.

The decision was made at the end of a three-day national workshop organized for musicians under the theme “Development of Musicians’ Union; IP Rights and Contractual Agreement” in Accra, last week.

Speaking at the programme, the president of MUSIGA, Mrs. Diana Hopson said verbal agreements were not sufficient to seal contracts for musicians, urging her colleagues to embrace the new system, which would forestall misunderstandings.

“Verbal agreements are not enough. Often a simple ‘yes’ is all that holds an agreement between a musician and a promoter and often when the engagement does not come off, a whole furor of misunderstanding is kicked up.”

The workshop was held for MUSIGA by the International Federation of Musicians (IFM), whose Vice president and chairman of the Africa committee is Alhaji Sidiku Buari. Among participants at the workshop were the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon. Joe Ghartey and the Copyright Administrator, Mr. Bernard Bosomprah. The rest were Professor Keith Harris of the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) of Great Britain, Mrs. Solving Wickman of LO, TCO of Sweden, Thomas Dayan, Assistant General Secretary of the IFM from France, Daniel Gomez, coordinator of the African committee of IFM, Mr. Jan Granvick, President of the Musicians Union of Sweden.

In a presentation on the internal management of musicians’ unions, drawing heavily from his wide experience as the immediate past president of MUSIGA, Alhaji Sidiku Buari told the delegates that no matter how big or small an agreement may be it is important parties involved sign a contract.

He expressed happiness that the IFM workshop had developed a model contract which was simple and which could be used for many of the business transactions of musicians.

“By this workshop IFM intends to make the musician the main player in his own affairs”, he said.

The four-point resolution by MUSIGA recommends the use of written contracts in all endeavours, training for staff to assist musicians in contractual processes; engagement of promoters, event organizers, distributors and others in dialogue related to contracts, and a request to the sector ministry to facilitate the process.

Sidiku Buari said the IFM would organize similar workshops in other African countries in order to sharpen the skills and talents of African musicians.

He described the workshop as an initiative that would help the participants strategize to move African music forward.

Addressing the workshop on the opening day, the Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture pledged support for the workshop initiative to enhance capacity-building of musicians in order to develop a free and democratic union to provide equal opportunities for all musicians.

The minister urged MUSIGA to show transparency in its operations, to serve the interest of its members. “Transparency is needed to conduct business between musicians and producers. Many a time because there is no transparency musicians suspect they are cheated by producers,” the Minister said.