Bessa Simons is the president of MUSIGA
President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bessa Simons, has outlined how the union plans to tackle copyright infringement and ensure proper revenue collection from music users for the benefit of composers.
In an interview on TV3, Bessa Simons noted that experts have indicated that Ghana is behind in addressing copyright and revenue collection by as much as 200 years and stressed the need to catch up quickly.
To address the issue, the MUSIGA President noted that GHAMRO must transition fully to digital operations, leaving behind the traditional analogue system.
“For now, especially with the copyright issue, we are behind time, and the experts are saying we are behind maybe about 200 years, so we have to catch up quickly. What we need in simple terms is to make sure that GHAMRO is working, fully digital, and that everybody is locked into GHAMRO,” he said.
GHAMRO warns media houses, brands against refusing to pay for music
Bessa Simons added that media houses which deliberately refuse to pay for music used should be held accountable.
“All the media houses should be paying royalties to GHAMRO, and once it is digital, everybody can monitor. These days, we don’t sell records, CDs, or pendrives, so we have to put everything into a digital store. When the digital store sells, it has to trickle down proper monetization into the accounts of the musicians, and this is what we are pushing,” he noted.
He further explained that once GHAMRO is fully digitalised, any artiste who releases a song will have royalties automatically disbursed to all individuals involved in creating the track.
“Once you have your song mastered, put it into the mail. The digital system will take care of everything, everybody who works on it gets paid, and all the media houses will have to pay their royalties so that musicians and artists can receive their earnings,” he added.
Watch the video below:
President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bessa Simons, explains how the union intends to fight copyright infringement and ensure proper revenue collection from music users to benefit musicians and artistes.#TheAfternoonShow #TV3GH pic.twitter.com/eQuOHJ0kBL
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) January 22, 2026
AK/EB
Meanwhile, watch as family of taxi driver murdered at Tetegu recounts incident
