Without the LI in place, there is no effective way of dealing with high level of piracy and the collection and payment for public performance of music, he noted.
Kwaku said the situation has become rather confusing with the only collection society, COSGA, said to have either been dissolved or there’s a petition for its dissolution.
Although the new Act allows for multiple collection societies to be formed by stakeholders, without the LIU in place, no new collection society can take over from COSGA which means artistes and songwriters are not able to receive their due.
A stumbling block to the passage of the LI, Kwaku observed, has been the strong lobbying by some musicians, industry personnel and academics, who have been petitioning against the LI, until two contentious sections of the Act dealing with folkloric and public domain works (PD) have been resolved satisfactorily.
They take issue with the in perpetuity protection given to folkloric and PD works and the fact that Ghanaians will have to pay for the use of these works, which form part of their ‘cultural heritage’.
Source: Business & Financial Times, 14th April, 2009, story by: Konrad K. DJAISI
