Amakye Dede demands GHC10,000 from MUSIGA over Copyright breach

Manager of Highlife musician, Abrantie Amakye Dede, is demanding GHc10,000 from the Musician Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) for auctioning a compilation of the artiste’s musical works at the Presidential Grand Ball held on December 29, 2017.

Akwasi Aboagye who’s Amakye Dede’s Manager told GHOne TV’s Eli Kharis on ‘Rythmz Live’ that Obour offered to pay GHc5,000 because he claimed that was the actual amount they auctioned the CDs for.

But the manager said they declined the offer because Amakye Dede initially informed him that the auctioned amount was Ghc10,000.

According to Aboagye, who’s also a Radio Presenter, because Obour and his team were unable to meet the required amount they proposed, they concurred to use the right procedure by authorizing their legal team to take it up.

He stated that should MUSIGA fail to comply with the GHc10,000 amount, they have no other option than to direct their legal team to sue.

“Instead of the GHc10,000 cedis that my artist told me was the amount that he (Obour) said the cd was auctioned for, the person who they auctioned the CD to decided to pay Ghc5,000 so that is the amount they are ready to offer. My artist also insisted that the amount he heard was Ghc10,000, nothing like Ghc5,000 was said at the event. At the moment we are in a deadlock and don’t know how to move forward so we’ve handed over to our lawyers to take it over from there.

“We tried to resolve the issue amicably with them but since that didn’t work out for both of us, we want the legal people to take it up that is why we asked our lawyers to write to them so that they know that we are serious about it. Just in case they don’t go how we want it then legal suit will follow.

“People should know that once we have copyright laws in Ghana, you can’t use someone’s intellectual property without the person’s consent. It is proper that if you want to use someone’s intellectual property, you do the right thing with the person before you use the person’s works.

“Artistes should be bold enough to pursue the legal course when their copyright is breached.” Akwasi Aboagye told Eli Kharis on GHOne TV.