Musicians contribute less than 1% to Ghana's economy - Obour

If you have been following Shatta Wale’s twitter timeline, chances are you are aware of his recent attack on MUSIGA President Obour.

But according to Obour he is doing his best the musicians and the industry because one of his regimes effort which include comprehensive study on the music sector and economic assessment of the industry is one of the greatest thing that happened to Ghana’s music industry.

“Development is a process.” Obour told GHOne. “So any musician who wakes up and says MUSIGA has not done anything, that musician is just looking for a quick a fix. It’s a process. We had a comprehensive study of the music which for is the greatest thing that happened to our music industry ever since the days of Nkrumah.

“From 1957 till 2014, we have not had a comprehensive study on the music sector where assessment of the industry is done. You know the economic contribution of the music industry to the GDP of Ghana.

Touching on how much the music industry contributed to the economy, Obour stated that it was less than 1%.

“With scientific proof, we know music contributes less than 1% to Ghana’s economy but if you put a figure to it it’s about 190 million per year. This is proven by quantitative study. This is not Obour just saying something, there’s proof to show.

“So now if we are talking to government, you can state that music employs about 40,000 people. About 20% of these people practice music part time and 80% do this full time. This is a foundation of development. So if a musician says nothing is being done it’s probably because that musician doesn’t understand what it takes to develop. I think we should all add up and educate our musicians.”