A seminar on international artist, rights and music management was held today, march 27th 2013 at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT in Accra. The seminar was a collaborative effort between the Musicians Union of Ghana, MUSIGA and the British Council of Ghana.
The seminar had two major speakers in the persons of Stuart Worthington and Keith Harris.
Seated with them on the High table were lawyer Mike Ocquaye and DJ Amess, a radio presenter and Artist Manager.
The seminar focused mainly on giving an overview, updating and helping participants to understand today’s music industry, general artist management where skills, roles and responsibilities of artists and managers were discussed. The various existing and new ways of making revenue in the music business as well as teamwork and 3rd party relationships were also discussed
Stuart Worthington, a provider of management consultancy, small business information, advice and guidance, professional training & development services for a range of clients and strategic partners and who has worked in most sectors of the cultural & creative / arts & entertainment / media industries spoke about a number of issues affecting musicians, managers and the entire complex situation of handling and sharing monies amongst the various players in the industry.
He entreated that all involved in the business of music should endeavor to gain knowledge and understanding of how money flows so the managers, artists and other stakeholders will know about the financial situations and their entitlement.
There were various issues concerning music sharing, copyright issues and talent management.
Keith Harris, Director of Performer Affairs at PPL commented that on the issue of royalty payments, the only way Ghanaian artists can claim their royalties from other countries is when we have good enough systems in place to claim the royalties of artists of other countries. He also spoke about artists creating good enough images of them and limiting their accessibility to their audience once they hit a certain level.
There was a question on when an artist needs a manager to which Keith responded that in a situation where an artist is doing all the work, the very moment the business side of managing the talent begins to interfere with the creativity, someone has to be brought in to handle certain things and this person has to be a manager.
The issues that were disseminated at the seminar were infused with personal and professional experiences of the various speakers.
At a point, Lawyer Mike Ocquaye entreated musicians to be serious about registering their music.
He cited a case where a record produced by onetime Ghanaian hiphop duo, kweku Tee and DBlack got them into court with Vodafone Ghana because the telecome company had used their music for a commercial without seeking the right permission from them. He added that because the music was registered, they had a good enough case to file in court.
DJ Amess spoke about the sad situation where Ghanaian music managers are mainly interested in getting shows for their artists.
He added that managing an artist includes everything that makes the artist who he or she is hence attention must be paid to the talent and the music itself as well as building an image for the artist.
Artists were advised to stop giving out their music fro free, be it via CDs or via the internet.
There are now various online digital portals where their music can be downloaded from for a fee.
Trond Tornes of Phonofile, wholesalers of digital music based in Norway gave a demonstration and a brief of what his organization does, how they work with various artists and managers and how they make money for them. He also mentioned that they have a system that can track music, wherever it is played.
>The second part of the seminar will be held tomorrow at the same venue at 11am. It will seek to point out how music managers make money, key terms and conditions in agreements and contracts, collaborations between artists of different countries, talent management, how to attract
international record labels to Ghana among others.