UK-based Ghanaian talent manager and music publisher Mark Darlington Osae has raised concerns about how some top Ghanaian musicians are unfairly treating music producers, particularly in relation to copyright and royalties.
In a Facebook post, the manager of Skrewfaze and Reggie & Bollie alleged that certain artistes are selling their music catalogues while removing producer credits in the process.
“The way some of our big GH artistes are treating producers is bad! Producers, please monitor credits of ur songs on DSPs. Ther is a trend where ur credits and/or split shares are being taken & songs sold or re-registered as 100% owners to 3rd parties!” he wrote.
Expanding on his comments in an interview on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM with Kwame Dadzie, Mark explained that producers are entitled to more than just mechanical and publishing splits.
“When a producer works on a song with an artiste, apart from the mechanical and the publishing splits that they agree on, they also have a share in master rights as well, unless the producers have sold and relinquished their rights to either the record label or the artiste. If that has not happened, they have producer points on the master recording.”
He noted that the problem partly stems from a long-standing trend in which some producers offered their beats to artistes for free in hopes of gaining exposure.
“Some of them [the producers] were not paid a penny and to take away their rights to the songs as well is an injustice we need to talk about as an industry,” he added.
Mark advised affected producers to seek help from professionals with expertise in publishing and copyright law to reclaim their entitlements.
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