Get your music publishing right!
One of Ghana’s successful musicians, M.anifest, has disclosed that he has never received any royalty for his music in Ghana.
The rapper, in an interview on Daybreak Hitz with KMJ on Hitz FM lamented that, “I haven’t received a single cedi or pesewa but I’m sure my music has been increasingly played.”
He, however, described the royalty system in Ghana as tragic adding the only way artistes in Ghana make money is by playing shows.
“It’s quite tragic that the royalty system in Ghana does not work for us,” he observed.
The rapper expressed his concern on how radio stations play commercials with songs of various artistes but don’t appreciate them with royalties, a situation he describes as “hand go, hand come”.
M.anifest continued that he belongs to a group called the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) who collect his royalties from countries outside Ghana including America, South Africa and Europe.
The rapper, whose real name is Kwame Ametepee Ttsikata, never the less, believes that this unfortunate situation can be fixed so the royalty system can work. He stressed that since he has experienced the system work outside Ghana and was sure it could also work in Ghana.
“It is not unsolvable. We cannot pretend there is no solution,” he said.