Who Controls The Price: Artistes Or Event Organizers?

Many artistes managers and promoters alike will agree with me on this piece because they might have encountered this saga more than necessary.

The real cause of this problem is not readily known but it behooves on all who are concerned to join forces so we can look for an ever lasting solution to this menace.

In marketing activities, it has always been the product owner who determines what values he places on his products and how much he sells it. Come to the arts and the entertainment industry and it`s a different game altogether. Here, the buyer determines the price and the value he places on a product. This is how it happens.

Being a corporate affairs manager for a music production house, we often encounter people who want our products but unfortunately, they come with their own prices.

It is sad because, when they come with these prices, nothing or whatsoever can change their position which intends affects the business transaction. Adversely, as much as we want to release the product to make some small cash, the push and pull ends and the musician takes whatever money available on the table.

Event organizers cannot be left out on this canker because they deal with musicians on several occasions. The artiste comes with his price tag yet they are always given what is in the books of the event organizers.

Solutions for these problems cannot be seen at the end of the tunnel because if one artiste ignores the price, there is always another one on stand-by ready to take that same money without remorse. The effects are always rippling with its attendant issues of poverty and hardship.

This is where many expect the Musicians Union of Ghana (Musiga) to come to the aid of these musicians who are crying foul over bad treatment from event organizers. How about establishing another association which will act as a trade association whose sole duty will be about dealings with price tags for artistes especially in the name of performances.

Followers of the arts industry might have heard about Jon Germain`s outburst that Ghana music breeds poverty. Really and truly, if this menace continues, why wont musicians be in abject poverty? The worse is even about to happen as some musicians are already seeking refuge in the movie industry to put body and soul together.

Whether that industry can save them is another topic for discussion when we meet again on a different platform to discuss the welfare of the musician.