Renowned Ghanaian musician Kwabena Kwabena has stated his preference for modern music distribution methods such as streaming and online sales over traditional formats like CDs and cassettes.

According to him, these contemporary methods have the potential to curb piracy and generate significant revenue for artistes, unlike traditional methods.

His comments follow Gospel singer Phillipa Baafi's call for the reintroduction of selling music on CDs and pen drives in Ghana. Baafi argued that many Ghanaians are not tech-savvy and that streaming services do not offer sufficient revenue for artists.

In an interview on Hitz FM on July 4, 2024, Kwabena Kwabena expressed his preference for modern methods but emphasized the need for proper structures to ensure musicians receive direct royalties from digital service providers (DSPs).

“We have not structured our system in such a way that the musician will have direct royalties or have the right percentage of royalties from these DSPs, especially with monetization," he stated.

He highlighted the recent monetization of Facebook as a positive step and called on the communication and tourism ministries to work towards ensuring that artists can secure the revenue they deserve.

Kwabena Kwabena pointed out that, unlike in the past when musicians relied on physical sales of cassettes and CDs, today's artistes can benefit from their music being accessed instantly on smartphones and other devices.

“I just heard recently that we've now monetized Facebook. So if our communication ministry or tourism ministry can work on these things, then artistes will get the right revenue we are looking for.

“We can even have lots of revenue coming in if we can actually monetize all these things very well because the use of music in these times is more acceptable than the use of music back then," he said.

However, he reminisced about the direct financial benefits artistes enjoyed before their music even hit the market, with executive producers ready to invest in studio recordings.

“Those days it was direct. Even before the music would come out, if you were an established artiste, you could get all your money even before your first tape actually got to the market. People would be waiting with their money once they knew you were recording in the studio.

"Executive producers would come to the studios. Once they knew you had started recording, everyone was ready with their investment. So the highest bidder would take it. That's how it was," he stated.

ID/OGB