Award-winning Ghanaian singer, KiDi, has shared his frustration about the state of the creative space in Ghana, stating that the country does not have a functional music industry.
The Lynx Entertainment artiste, in an interview with Hitz FM, argued that despite the global recognition of Ghanaian music, what exists is merely a label without the necessary structures to support it.
“Industry does this, industry does that, but from where I sit, we do not have an industry. It’s there in name, like the Ghana music industry, but we don’t have the structures that make us an industry. We’re just floating, doing our best with the little resources we have,” he said.
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He expressed personal frustration about his own career trajectory, lamenting that after a decade of releasing numerous hit songs, the absence of a supportive system has prevented him from reaching his full potential.
“After 10 years of all the hits I’ve had, if we had structures, I should be a mega superstar. But it’s one man for himself. You and your team have to find money for videos, for promotion, for everything,” he explained.
KiDi pointed out that this lack of infrastructure affects even the country’s top artistes, forcing everyone to operate individually.
“If you speak to Sarkodie, or Shatta Wale, or Stonebwoy, everybody is striving on their own with their own team, trying to form their plans and marketing strategies. But we don’t have anything,” he said.
Beyond the artistes, KiDi emphasized that DJs, video directors, bloggers, presenters, and dancers are all integral parts that have been overlooked.
“When problems come, we blame the artistes. If the artiste goes up, the DJ goes up, the blogger goes up, and the radio presenter goes up. Everybody in the ecosystem goes up. But we’ve left the artistes on an island and said, ‘You are the industry; do what you have to do,” he observed.
His comments join the conversation about the need for structural reforms to build a sustainable and collective entertainment industry in Ghana.
Recently, in an interview with GhanaWeb, talent manager Nana Poku Ashis pointed out the problem of a lack of structure to help sustain the creative industry. Hence, a dependence on government to aid the industry.
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