Musician fights GAPI over stolen album

Veteran Ghanaian Musician Paa Willie Ackun has accused the Ghana Association of Phonogram Industries (GAPI) for selling his creative works on the internet without his permission or knowledge.

Paa Willie, who is the copyright owner of the ‘Set It Up Again’ album says the work had been up for sale on electronic marketplace Amazon.com and other websites for some time now though he has never signed any contract with those online agencies.

The aged musician said through investigations, he realized that GAPI, together with an organization called Bach Technology had granted these online agencies distribution rights to his musical works.

“When I contacted Amazon, they referred me to the distributors- Phonofile, which has offices in Europe and other parts of the world. I then contacted, Phonofile where I was informed that GAPI, together with an organisation called Bach Technology had granted them distribution rights for my copyrighted musical works.

“They then asked me to contact GAPI representatives, Mr. Francis Twum and Mr. Jonathan Cudjoe for further information on the matter. Upon further investigations on the internet, I realized GAPI had been named as the copyright owner of my album on the Amazon site,” Paa Willie told BEATWAVES in an interview.

According Mr Akun, GAPI had received huge sums of money for several works albums from various Ghanaian musicians without their consent they had assigned to Phonofile.

“This is a very serious matter and all the organizations involved in this violation of my copyrights have caused severe financial loss to me and must be brought to book, especially GAPI the Ghanaian body that illegally assigned my rights without my permission, and the main cause of the problem. I am totally dissatisfied with the explanation given me by Mr. Francis Twum.

The actions of GAPI amount to a blatant infringement of my legal rights, done without my express permission and consent. I have all the documents to prove that I am the sole copyright owner of the musical album ‘Set It Up Again’ by Paa Willie and the Scroll,” he said.

The musician, who felt cheated, has since reported the issue to the Veteran Musicians Association of Ghana (VEMAG), the Professional Musicians Association of Ghana (PROMAG) and Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) as he waits for the next line of action from his lawyers.