Ghanaian highlife artiste Kwabena Kwabena has joined the ongoing conversation around contract fallouts within the country’s music industry, urging emerging artistes to tread carefully when signing deals.
During a discussion on GhanaWeb’s Talkertainment with Elsie Lamar, the ‘Asor’ singer advised young talents to make legal consultation a priority before committing to any agreement. Although he has never operated under a record label, he noted that contracts are often packed with legal terminology that requires professional interpretation.
“I have never signed to any record label so I probably might not be able to give an experience or a fair idea but the little I’ve studied around is that whenever you’re presented with a contract, the first thing you need to do is to get a lawyer to read the contract and interpret it to you, because every contract is law language,” he explained.
Kwabena Kwabena stressed that individuals must fully understand the obligations tied to any document they endorse, highlighting that signatures come with accountability.
“If you put your signature to a certain contract, you must know that you are fully responsible for whatever consequences it brings,” he advised.
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Touching on the dispute between Ground Up Chale and rapper Kwesi Arthur, the highlife musician declined to take sides. Instead, he said the controversy should spark broader education on contractual awareness rather than emotional reactions.
“In this case, we can neither say party ‘A’ is guilty nor party ‘B’ is guilty. Why am I saying that? Everybody put their interest in the contract. You read it, I read it; you sign, I sign, a witness signs. We must use this opportunity to educate people on what to put my signature under and what not to put my signature under instead of having an emotional understanding of it, because there are no emotions when it comes to law; must we all learn the hard way?” he detailed.
He also acknowledged the advantages record labels can offer artistes, noting that partnerships can create opportunities that may be difficult to secure independently, but insisted legal guidance remains crucial.
“My advice is that, having a label behind you is a good thing, it can open certain doors, it can take you to a certain level which individually you can’t, but please get a lawyer.
“The moment they’re interested in you, it means that they are confident that you can bring in revenue, so you must be interested in that revenue as well,” Kwabena Kwabena further stated.
