Ghana Music Awards: A Mere Variety Show

What should be the nation’s most prestigious awards to recognize individuals and artists in the Ghanaian music industry fails in many ways to retain its credibility. It is the country's premier annual music awards ceremony, recognizing musical excellence across all genres however the GMA for some time have not seen any improvement in what should be a major motivator for all players and stake holders in the Ghanaian music industry. I believe the GMA has established enough to set standards for music lovers to appreciate.

I find it not surprising that the GMA’s comes under so much criticism. What else can we expect when organizers play politics with awards which should recognize and motivate players in the music industry? Charter House could be the best organizers of this show, the awards could achieve credibility if nominations and for that matter awards are left in the hands of stake holders in the music industry. The awards show could be plush and flamboyant but I believe nothing would have been achieved when the awards lack credibility and prestige .Have you ever wondered why in similar well organized awards, nominations are even deemed so prestigious?

I find it rather ironical when individuals whose interest we are awarding sit back to watch people who have no interest in our music industry organize awards for the industry. At this point, tons of questions come up. Who are “the real industry players” to do our categorization for us? Who is to be part of this group? The questions could go on and on.

I have had problems with the organizers of the GMA’s on a number of fronts, one of which is the composition of their so called planning committee. Looking closely at members of this committee, who are believed to be the “the real industry players” in Ghanaian music, there seem to be the problem of conflict of interest. Most of them have very close ties with people who are supposed to be awarded. The number of members comprising this committee I believe is limited and not representative. This I believe gives chance to criticism even in the case where an artist or musician really deserves the award.

Lets take the case of the South African music awards (SAMA’s) which is run by Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA), there is proper representation when it comes to those who categorize and merit awards. Members of the industry and record companies submit recordings and music videos that have been released during the eligibility year.

During the screening process, over 150 experts in a variety of music fields review entered recordings to make sure they meet the eligibility requirements and that they are placed in the proper categories for award consideration. This is the point at which it is determined whether a recording is rap or jazz, country or dance, etc. During the general nominations, ballots are sent to voting members of the association with lists of all of the eligible recordings in various fields.

Members are instructed to vote only in their fields of expertise. To become a voting member of the association an individual must be a music industry professional with creative or technical credits on six commercially released tracks (or their equivalent). These may include vocalists, conductors, songwriters, composers, engineers, producers, instrumentalists, arrangers, art directors; album notes writers, narrators and music video artists and technicians. Some craft and specialized categories are reserved from the general nominations voting. These nominees are selected by national nominating committees selected from among active members of the association in chapter cities. This is just to list a few of the processes the SAMA’s goes through to produce credible and deserving award winners.

It is inevitable, our demand for a better and well organized awards will grow. We must all take part in this as stake holders in a more active manner to make it credible and prestigious. I believe strongly that to have a credible GMA, there should be a way to get all stake holders on board to produce a credible GMA rather than leaving it in the hands of an event house whose main aim perhaps will be to increase profit. Either than that the “Ghana” should be taken off and replaced by charter house to make it the CHARTER HOUSE MUSIC AWARDS.