I receive royalties from GHAMRO once in a thousand years – Edem

Versatile music artiste, Edem, has stated in an interview on e.TV Ghana’s ‘The Late Nite Celebrity’ Show’ that the Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) pays him royalties once in a blue moon.

‘’GHAMRO pays me royalties once in a thousand years. But I mean it is a start, its nothing you can write home about.”

‘’If as an ‘A’ list artiste, you get a cheque of GHS 700 in a very long time, it is very bad,”’ he lamented.

He, however, admitted that without proper legislation, there is little GHAMRO can do about the collection of royalties.

‘’GHAMRO collects royalties for artistes registered under them. But if a law comes from parliament and directs radio stations to pay a certain amount to artistes, they will pay,’’ he noted.

The host of ‘The Late Nite Celebrity Show’, Foster Romanus, reminded Edem of a similar legislation enacted by parliament to collect TV license fees from Ghanaians but that law did not materialise because the people vehemently resisted the payment of TV license.

Edem explained that the scenario with TV licence fees is not the same as the payment of royalties.

’’TV license fees was to be paid by individuals. But royalties are paid by bodies that use music on a large scale. People play music at parties, DJ use the music and hotels also use the music. There should be a way to enrich the artistes as well,’’ he stated.

But he was quick to add that it cannot be an issue of one size fits all ‘’But it shouldn’t be a flat line. If Foster has a hit record and his song is played 10 times and Edem’s song is played two times, there is no reason why they should take the same amount. Foster should take more, that is where the law comes in,’’ he explained.

He also cautioned that the issues of royalties are dicey and must be treated with uttermost care.

“Royalties are so delicate and they should be in the hands of something that has rules made by government and only implemented by statutory bodies in law. Once it gets in the hands of private enterprises or individuals, it will be agenda driven. So I think a law should manage it,’’ he stated.

GHAMRO was established under section 49 of the Copyright Law, Act 690 of 2005 and regulated under L.I. 1962 of 2010 to collect and distribute royalties accruing to authors and owners of copyright and neighbouring rights.

GHAMRO is a non-profit corporate body (limited by guarantee) and therefore all fees collected are distributed among the right owners whose works have been used, in this instance composers, authors and producers, and publishers in proportion to the use made of their works.

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