Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, caught up with dancehall musician, Stonebwoy, in an Instagram live video where he interacted with celebrities among other citizens amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Their conversation moved from the subject of the deadly disease when Stonebwoy notified him of some of the problems facing musicians in the entertainment indsutry.
According to Stonebwoy, there is a strong need for the government to implement digital systems that will check musicians’ royalty distribution to aid them in making money to support the economy.
The trouble is that you don’t expect to make enough money in Nigeria, or in Guinea or United Kingdom than I will make here as a resident act. Inasmuch as we have some things going on, we need to connect to the Ghana market itself. We have to connect the global system to what we have here.
Most of the time when we talk to music businessmen abroad they mention lots of things we can’t find here. We have to make the money to put back in our craft. Musicians will be able to help the government If the government also supports it. We will pay taxes among other things.
We have to get the younger ones to follow our lead. Most of these things don’t look attractive because others feel there is nothing going on. So many want to run instead of wasting their time.
The Information Minister, addressing Stonebwoy’s plea, took it in good faith and promised to set up a meeting between ace musicians and the Minister for the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry, Hon. Barbara Oteng-Gyasi.
“We have to work more on strengthening the digital distribution platform for music streams. I will make you a promise to go over the conversations with the Tourism Minister, Barbara. We will set up a meeting to discuss such matters, Mr. Oppong-Nkrumah said.
