Committee on payment of royalties to musicians formed

Accra, Jan. 18, GNA - A nine-member committee under the Chairmanship= of Major Emmanuel Owusu-Adansi (Rtd) of the National Communications Authority (NCA) has been formed to work out the modalities for the payment of royalties to musicians.

Members of the committee are four representatives each from the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and the Interim Copyright Management Team (ICMT).

The terms of reference for the work of the Committee shall be to revie= w the tariff regimes for GIBA members; to discuss the payment of outstanding arrears; to review terms of payment of COSGA bills; to discuss logging of works performed by users, and any other matters that would enhance the relationship between the two parties.

The Committee has been given a minimum period of two weeks to present its report. This was contained in a communiqu=E9 issued at the end of a meeting between GIBA and ICMT held under the Chairmanship of Mr Haruna Iddrissu, Minister of Communications on Tuesday, January 18, 2011. The meeting was to resolve the problem of payment of royalties to musicians and they agreed to cooperate with each other to find an amicable solution to the raging problem.

Therefore, GIBA made a firm commitment to honour royalty payment to musicians through the ICMT; ICMT to restrain its members from embarking on unilateral actions and harassment of the radio stations as happened in Sunyani. In addition, ICMT is to withdraw its letter restraining GIBA from the collection of royalties on its behalf.