GHAMRO plans to make churches pay royalties

Churches in Ghana will be paying royalties for songs they sing during their services, if plans by the Ghana Music Rights organisation (GHAMRO), come to fruition, Citi Showbiz has gathered.



Speaking at a media workshop last week, the Chairman of the organisation, Mr. Rex Owusu Marfo aka Rex Omar indicated that they were planning to make churches also pay royalties for the music they use.

“Yes, we are considering that. We are putting in place the necessary measures to let churches pay royalties because they also use musicians’ intellectual property,” he said.

He added that if all music users would pay for the songs they use, the Ghanaian musician will be better than before.

He made this assertion in response to a question asked by a participant of the workshop, Mel Kwesi Davis, as to why churches do not pay royalties.

In a society where the proposition of churches paying tax has proven unyielding, some have opined that GHAMRO would have to be strong in enforcing this law.

However, the new Administration is resolute in its fight against piracy and has put together its arsenals to ensure that the Ghanaian music benefits from his intellectual property.

So far, GHAMRO has held workshops for the police and the media to educate them on their activities and their role in helping enforce copyright laws.

Source: citifmonline.com