So I have been thinking. I have been thinking about a whole lot, especially when it comes to radio in Ghana. I can see a whole lot of them springing up frequently so I guess that sector is doing very well. I have had the chance to go on some on these stations for interviews etc and I will recommend most of them when it comes to programming. I also love the security system put in place and one station that comes to mind is radio gold 90.5.
I am not going to talk about programming, neither am I going to talk about their security and all that, but I want to touch on the help/support that they give local artistes when it comes to airplay. I am aware that there are so many artistes in this country who are struggling to make it. They don’t even get shows to perform for some ‘coins’ and it’s hard for them to put out a song since they face difficulty getting funds to take care of their studio time.
After going through all that to put out a song, a DJ/presenter will first take payola before playing your tune on the station/programme. This payola business has been with us from day one and I have personally heard artistes complain. I sometimes wonder why it has to be like this since the dj/presenter is getting content for his programme. Quiet recently, instead of taking money, they take all sort of things that will be of use to them like call credits, clothing and other items. When you listen closely to the radio, they mostly play songs from foreign artistes including Jay Z, Eminem, Rihanna, Asa and other well known stars. i know of several programmes where almost 90% of the songs they play are foreign. Let me take this chance to applaud KOD for his programme, African Safari.
I want to know something, do they take payola from these foreign artistes before playing their songs or they patronize so they can feel cool? I don’t think Jay Z or Eminem will pay a local dj/presenter to play his music. I might be wrong, I am sorry because some of them might have direct contact with these celebs. I am just saying!!!! Why do they take payola before playing songs from local artistes if you don’t take from foreign ones? Does that even look or sound right? Your country man has a track out and you take him money before you play, But play a foreign song for free…are you crazy????
When will Ghana even start paying royalties to her artistes? I am wondering when they will put that system in place so artistes can start enjoying life. This is happening in other countries and as far as I am concerned, our artistes need to benefit from this too. Ghanaians don’t buy cds, but listen to the radio a lot, this is how it is here so radio and tv stations should start paying artistes for playing their songs. Until a show comes up, the artistes is broke.
I really hope that one day Ghanaian artistes will start enjoying the fruit of their labour and get the necessary respect from these media people.
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