Ghannaian musician, King Paluta
Organisers of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) have formally responded to complaints about the omission of King Paluta’s hit song ‘Makoma’ from this year’s ‘Popular Song of the Year’ nominations list.
In a press release sighted by GhanaWeb, they clarified that the decision to not nominate the song was based on a long-standing rule that restricts artistes from having more than one song in the same category, with only a few exceptions.
“The only exceptions to this rule apply to just a few categories, which are, Best Collaboration, Best International Collaboration, and Best Music Video categories, where multiple nominations are allowed due to the involvement of different contributors,” the statement read.
The TGMA Board further emphasised that when an artiste has two or more songs qualifying for categories that do not allow multiple entries, the board typically selects only one to be considered.
This decision according to them is based on data, including streaming numbers and airplay statistics.
In this regard, the board noted that King Paluta had two major songs in contention in the category; ‘Aseda’ and ‘Makoma’. Based on this, they had to evaluate both songs and apply the one-song-per-category rule.
The Board indicated that they relied on research, taking into consideration streaming numbers from digital platforms and radio airplay data from 175 radio stations across the country.
They emphasised that after evaluating the numbers, ‘Aseda’ emerged as the more popular song and was thus chosen for nomination in both the ‘Highlife Song of the Year’ and ‘Most Popular Song of the Year’ categories.
Another reason for applying the one-song-per-category rule
One of the reasons behind this rule, according to the organisers, is also to prevent artistes from splitting their votes across multiple songs in a single category.
The statement released by the Board acknowledged that, in previous years, this rule was relaxed on certain occasions, allowing artistes to have multiple songs nominated in the same category.
However, the current policy at the TGMAs is to strictly adhere to it.
AK/EB
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