GHAMRO to embark on massive licensing of commercial music users

The Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) is to embark on a massive licensing of music users for commercial purposes and a membership drive to increase the revenues the organization makes.

The newly elected leadership of the Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) led by ace musician Rex Omar announced this at a meeting with the leadership of the Musicians Union of Ghana to deliberate on a number of issues of mutual interest.

According to the new GHAMRO Chairman Rex Omar, the visit is part of a series of interactions with key stakeholders in GHAMRO. He indicated that similar meetings will be held with the leadership of the Ghana Association of Phonographic Industries (GAPI) and the Association of Music Rights Owners (AMRO).

Rex Omar noted that the meeting was to discuss the new board’s outlook and vision with the leadership of the Union and also explore ways of supporting the Union as a key stakeholder in GHAMRO. He added that other potential beneficiaries from the work of GHAMRO were GAPI and AMRO. Rex Omar said a number of committees have been established to oversee the running of GHAMRO. He briefed the meeting on the various committees established by the current board for efficient administration of GHAMRO. These committees are the Executive Committee, Welfare Committee, Communications and Marketing Committee and the Finance Committee with former MUSIGA President Diana Hopeson as spokesperson.

He added that the organization is keen on improving its revenues so it is in the process of investing in monitoring systems to monitor the media to ensure the logging of songs played on radio and television to ensure a more equitable distribution of royalties based on airplay.

Another measure GHAMRO is undertaking is the cleaning of the register of members to weed out all the ghost names on the register. To this end, they are even considering biometric registrations to streamline the exercise and regulate the distribution of royalties.

The Chief Officer of GHAMRO, Abraham Adjartey also called for increased collaborations between GHAMRO and MUSIGA for a shared vision, the protection of mechanical rights and leveraging digital platforms for the benefit of their members. He indicated that soon stickers will be issued to public transports that use music in their vehicles for commercial purposes. In this regard, he said joint task forces will be established to inspect the public vehicles for their stickers.

On his part, the 2nd Vice President of MUSIGA, Rev Yawson expressed the Union’s appreciation for the visit and testified to the selfless sacrifices the personalities like Abraham Adjartey in the leadership of GHAMRO have undertaken over the years. In his submission, the National Organizer, Chizzy Wailer emphasized the selfless activism of Rex Omar in the fight to ensure musicians receive their due for the use of their works and expressed the confidence that the selfless activism Rex displayed in the past would be demonstrated in his work as the new GHAMRO chairman. The National Organizer also highlighted the Union’s readiness to participate in any anti-piracy drives GHAMRO may want to undertake. This view was echoed by Yaw Osbourne who called for close collaborations between industry players in the fight against piracy.

Other officers present at the meeting were the MUSIGA Administrator, Rev Fiifi Khan Agyarkwa, the Chairman of GAPI MrAmponsah and the MUSIGA Director of Communications and Special Projects, Ahuma Bosco Ocansey.