Old musicians demand transparency by COSGA
Board
Old musicians demand transparency by COSGA
Board
Accra (Greater Accra) 03 April 2001
The Ghana Old Musicians and Artistes Welfare Association (GOMAWA) on Monday called on the new Board of the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA) to expedite action on and furnish members with audited accounts of past boards.
The association also called for transparency in the Board's work, saying it is the only way to end "wild speculations" about the collection and use of royalties.
The new eight-member board was elected last December 14 and inaugurated in January this year for a two-year term. It has a Copyright Administrator who is not elected.
In an interview with the GNA after an emergency meeting in Accra, GOMAWA President, Mr P. K. Yamoah pledged the association's support for the new board, to improve the fortunes of old composers and artistes.
He said they had been kept in the dark for a long time, a situation that had made many of them die in poverty.
"The payment of royalties had been very slow in the past. Some of us have not received any royalties for three years now," he said adding that rivalry at COSGA was partly to blame for lapses in the collection and distribution of royalties.
Some broadcasters who owed COSGA took advantage of its divided front and refused to pay on the grounds that they did not know who was legally entitled to collect the royalties.
The rivalry, he added, weakened the ability of COSGA to embark on effective inspection, collection and distribution of royalties.
Mr Stan Plange, GOMAWA's representative on the COSGA Board said the problem had partly to do with the "ambiguous nature" of the Copyright Law on who constitutes a COSGA Board member.
PNDC Law 110 passed in 1985 is currently pending parliamentary review, a process that started with the last parliament.
Mr Plange said the law was such that it brought unto the Board, other professionals whose work also deserved royalties, making it difficult to determine how royalties were collected and distributed.
He said the new Board is consulting with the Licensing Department of COSGA for an update on bodies, which owe royalties.
"It is not all the bars, hotels and especially, broadcasting houses which pay. At the moment we receive only a tenth of monies due us," he said, adding that estimated annual copyright fees run into billions of cedis.
He cited a case in which members of the Kumasi chop bar owners association were seeking a stay of execution from the Supreme Court, restraining COSGA from collecting royalties from them.
Their reason, he said, was that they did not see why they should pay royalties after paying for the cassette albums that they play.
The Copyright Law states, however, that any public performance of musical works attracts royalties.
Meanwhile, COSGA will on April 7 start implementing the Mechanical Rights Law that makes it mandatory for music producers to pay up-front to composers seven per cent of the retail price of musical works.
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