Ghanaian blogger Ameyaw Debrah has stated that musicians can do without all the wrangling with the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) about royalties if they take advantage of digitisation.

Speaking at the Graphic Showbiz forum which came off at the Executive Theatre of TV3 on Tuesday, June 22, Ameyaw Debrah said, there were so many revenue sources in the digital space that artistes could take advantage of to make some good money.

“The number of streams on these streaming platforms gives the artistes the exact amount of money they can expect. There is no back and forth when it comes to payment with these streaming platforms.”

Explaining further, the award-winning blogger said it is difficult for institutions responsible for collecting royalties for musicians such as GHAMRO to do so because we do not have the technology to do that.

“It is difficult to monitor which radio station or TV station played an artiste’s song at a particular time because we don't have the technology to do that hence institutions responsible for collecting royalties find it difficult to tax these media houses.

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“Musicians abroad get their royalties because there are mechanisms that can check how much a musician is making at a particular time but that is not so in Ghana. But with the streaming websites, an artiste in Ghana can make so much money based on how well songs are streamed across the world,” he said.

Ameyaw Debrah was a panellist at the forum, which was on the theme, “Maximising the benefits of digitisation in COVID-19 era,” along with rapper Okyeame Kwame; CEO of 3 Media Networks Sadiq Abdulai Abu; filmmaker Ivan Quashigah; creative entrepreneur Mabel Simpson and talent manager George Britton.

The panellists shared how they had survived the impact of COVID-19 especially with digitisation and Ameyaw Debrah revealed that he had to adapt to new ways of doing things.

“People think we bloggers are making a lot of money on YouTube because of the content we put there but that is not entirely true. YouTube does not pay that much but I was able to establish Ameyaw TV and we cover events that clients pay us for. I also get a lot of requests from clients who want me to advertise their products for them,” he said.

The forum was sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malta Guinness, TV3 and the Bartenders Guild.