Reading the interview AfricanPromo.com granted the controversial hip life artiste Aplus and Mmframa of Fili Gadogi fame who appeared on TV Africa’s Run Down last Wednesday hosted by Yaw Sakyi, I get the impression that everything is not going on well in the music industry in Ghana.
Aplus is one artiste you love to hate, especially his political antagonist but who cares about them though? They are not detrimental, as they can bark but not bite. He sings and the world goes round.
He is definitely not a politician but thinks as a registered voter and a tax payer; he has every damn right to check on the people if the tax payer’s money is used judiciously and not on ‘pampers, chichinga and baby oil’.
Both musicians have lost interest in the music business now because of low patronage and other pertinent issues such as the influx of Nigerians, piracy, payola and royalties. Mmframa advocated for the demise of the Musician Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) in the next five years if nothing is done to ameliorate the challenges affecting the musician industry in Ghana.
Whiles the late Michael Jackson’s Thriller sold $49 million copies and still counting, Ghanaian musicians do not sell even close to 100 thousand copies. I think the highest they have sold was Nkasei’s Tuobodom album which was said to have sold close to 150 thousand copies with two weeks of its release.
These days, people don’t buy Cds anymore; they rather prefer one track from Aplus, Mmframa, Tinny, Reggie Zippy etcetera etcetera and get their own album. This is happening because someone at MUSIGA is just not doing his or her job well. It’s high time we stopped talking and take pragmatic measures to address the concerns.
“Ghana music has taken a nose dive and again it is not getting any better. Especially now that the Nigerians have taken over and there is not a single mechanism to check piracy and royalties is a big issue? I just hope and pray it gets better”, Aplus said.
Mmframa on the other hand think “If you are a taxi owner and your driver is not making good sales, what do you do? You let him continue or you sack him, collect your taxi and give it to another driver? If the people at MUSIGA are not performing, or not doing what is expected of them then, we see no use of them; musicians must come together and remove them from office”.
Low sales is blamed on the Nigeria invasion which confirms my earlier article captioned “Nigeria Has Taken Over Ghana Entertainment Industry” ( LINK TO ARTICLE anangfio.blogspot.com )
If there are no musicians then there wouldn’t be any MUSIGA. Indeed we cannot fold our arms and pretend everything is fine, when the reality on the ground says different.
It is my fervent hope that Diana Hopeson, the president of the MUSIGA will be reading this, as the musicians are gradually and simultaneously fading out and dying as paupers.
By: Ebenezer Anangfio Jnr.
http://www.ghanacelebrities.com/index.php/news/entertainment/375-ghana-music-has-taken-a-nosedive-aplus-share
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