GAPI To Tackle Piracy

Ken Opoku Asiedu. GAPI Chairman

The Ghana Association of Phonographic Industry (GAPI), the umbrella executive producers association in the country, has started implementing programmes that will see a positive turnaround of the fortunes of the music industry in Ghana.

In an interview with the national chairman of GAPI, Ken Opoku Aseidu, who is also the owner of His Majesty Record Label, he said, “We are introducing a security device that has to be affixed on every cassette or CD for our members in consonance with section 25 of the copyright Act 690, which was passed into law in 2005.

“The device, at least, can tell any lay man that he or she is patronizing a genuine product.”

He further said his board was already holding meetings with the copyright office and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for the smooth implementation of the device.

The Ghana music industry has been on the decline over the last 10 years due to the laxity of laws that have to check counterfeit and pirated CDs on the market.

He appealed to all members of the association to cooperate with the anti-piracy committee that had been set up to oversee the sales and monitoring of the device and to make sure that all genuine CDs and cassettes that they had in stock  were affixed with the sticker.

This, he said, would afford the anti-piracy squad the opportunity to easily identify genuine CDs when they went on raids, adding that the board had already started an educational campaign on television and radio networks, warning dealers in pirated CDs and DVDs of dangers in dealing in such products, such imprisonment for three years or a stipulated fine of GH¢6000, when arrested for such an offence.