How ‘free shows’ are kiling the entertainment economy - Kweku Smoke's PR explains

Ghana's entertainment economy is being held back by a deeply ingrained habit of not paying for live experiences, according to Derrick Annor Boadi, Digital Marketer and Head PR of Kweku Smoke's Revival Concert.

Speaking on GhanaWeb TV's TGMA Countdown show with Isaac Dadzie and Joseph Henry Mensah, Boadi traced the problem to the way Ghanaians grew up experiencing entertainment, largely through free school events and outings with parents.

"Each and every one of us here in this room, growing up, the only concert we were used to was Friday entertainment at schools. We don't have the summer vacations like the Americans do. Most of these things are for free. You don't get to pay," he said.

He pointed to major American festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, Rolling Loud and Woodstock as examples of a deeply embedded culture of paid entertainment that Ghana has yet to develop, noting that the habit of spending money on live experiences simply was not part of how most Ghanaians were raised.

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Boadi, however, expressed optimism about the direction things were heading, noting that Ghana's Gen Z population is beginning to shift the culture.

"This new generation, Gen Z, they understand festivals, they understand going to events, they understand having fun," he said.

He also took a swipe at the state of Ghana's entertainment infrastructure, using the National Theatre as a pointed example of how the country's facilities fail to match the ambitions of its entertainment industry.

"It took TGMA a while to announce the venue. The National Theatre, sometimes when you enter the building, you're like, this can't be. There are 33 million Ghanaians and this is the National Theatre. When you see the washrooms, you'll be disappointed," he said.

Watch the full video below:



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