The former Board Chairman of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), Rex Omar has bemoaned the failure of prospective musicians to assess the commercial viability of the music industry before venturing into it.
Rex Omar said this at the Showbiz Roundtable organised by Joy Entertainment at the Labadi Beach Hotel on Saturday, October 29, 2022.
The thought-leadership forum, themed ‘Music Business and Tourism’, aims at delving deep into, and moving conversations from simply identifying some of the industry’s woes, to sharing ideas and insights that are critical to the growth and progress of the creative industry.
As a keynote speaker, Mr Rex Owusu Marfo spoke on the topic, “Importance of royalties to the life of the musician”.
He stated that the majority of artistes do not analyse the business prospects of the music landscape before venturing.
This, according to him is per research he conducted in the music industry.
“I want to say emphatically here that based on the research I have done, 98 percent of people who get into music in this country, don’t do any business analysis, they just go in,” he said.
The Highlife musician advised artistes to make it a point to understand that music is business and not only about passion.
“It is only in music that people are driven by passion. So he [artiste] will get the song, look for money anyhow, just rush to studio and record the music and most artistes are satisfied because they have been able to record what I feel.”
“Even an iced-water seller, if he wants to go and buy sachet water and sell, he will analyse how much will I buy it? How much will I sell it for? At the end of the day how much will I get,” he cited an instance.
According to him, if the music becomes a hit, the artiste may not receive the maximum royalties because they failed to consider it from a business standpoint.