Entertainment journalist and artiste manager, Edem Mensah Tsotorme
Popular entertainment journalist and artiste manager Edem Mensah Tsotorme has called for heightened professionalism across Ghana’s entertainment industry.
According to him, both organisers and artistes must strictly honour contractual obligations to help sustain the creative arts sector in the country.
His comments follow an incident where musician Black Sherif was pelted with water bottles after showing up 10 hours late for an event in Takoradi.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on GhanaWeb’s X Spaces on June 27, 2025, Tsotorme highlighted that while unforeseen circumstances, such as power outages or technical glitches, are sometimes unavoidable, many issues stem from sheer lack of preparation and unprofessionalism.
“If that happens, clearly there is some level of unprofessionalism on the part of the organisers. And there are some instances where artistes will also be unprofessional. You give them a certain time for sound check, you give them a certain time to go on stage, and they end up not being there at that time,” he stated.
Using the recent TGMAs as a case study, he explained that artistes sign contracts with precise performance slots.
“Failure to adhere to agreed times for sound checks, stage appearances, or even red-carpet interviews could constitute a breach of contract.
“This year, for instance, when we got to the red carpet, there were a couple of people who wanted to interview Empress Gifty.
“But because I was the one who signed the contract and I knew what was in the contract, I pleaded with them that we could not do interviews because we had a specific time to go on stage.
“Any delay at the red carpet would have affected the performance time, and that would have been unprofessional on our part, it would have been a breach of contract,” he recalled.
Tsotorme also warned that such unprofessional conduct, whether by organisers or artistes, could damage reputations and discourage future collaborations.
“We need to show respect to each other. Agreement should be agreement because, you know what, when we are punctual and loyal to the agreement, what we are doing is keeping ourselves in business. The artiste is keeping the promoter in business, and the promoter is keeping the artiste in business. That should be the mindset,” he said.
See the full interview below:
— GhanaWeb (@TheGhanaWeb) June 27, 2025
ID/MA
GhanaWeb Special: The gold market that fuels galamsey
