{"id":73550,"date":"2023-06-05T14:30:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T14:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/06\/05\/there-is-no-law-to-empower-ghamro-to-charge-for-music-play-rex-omar\/"},"modified":"2023-06-05T14:30:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T14:30:26","slug":"there-is-no-law-to-empower-ghamro-to-charge-for-music-play-rex-omar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/06\/05\/there-is-no-law-to-empower-ghamro-to-charge-for-music-play-rex-omar\/","title":{"rendered":"There is no law to empower GHAMRO to charge for music play – Rex Omar\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

The Chairman of the Interim Directors of the Ghana Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), Rex Omar has explained why they are not able to make unit charges for songs played by music users.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said on A-Z on Joy FM<\/strong> that a law that is required to give them the power to charge how much a single play of a song costs is non-existent.<\/p>\n

He said because of that they only rely on data of the number of plays from their third party company Global Monitoring to do the calculation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no law in Ghana that guarantees that it music is played one minute you pay 1 pesewa. There is no law like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked if GHAMRO can\u2019t find a way to come up of the rates themselves, he answered in the negative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we find a way to measure that? The only way you can measure that is a log sheet. By the law of Ghana, you are supposed to play the music, log the music you are playing and send returns to GHAMRO. Most of the media houses are not doing that. That is the reason a third party is doing it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said because of this every media house pays their royalties on flat rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the state that must do that because in the USA it is the Library of Congress that determines the rate. We don\u2019t have that in Ghana. So when people are complaining they put all the blame on the small GHAMRO that is trying to find its way in these things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Rex Omar said on A-Z that one challenge faced by GHAMRO is the absence of a law that allows them to put charges on the counts of music played music users.<\/p>\n

They are also waiting for a law that makes it possible for more devices that store music to be levied. pic.twitter.com\/VspsLdJypo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kwame Dadzie (@Kwamedadziegh) June 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

He also noted that because CDs are going extinct in the system, they have proposed another law to enable them levy all other devices that store music but the law is still not ready.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Legislative Instrument that established the Blank Levy, we had to change it to cover all other devices. It has taken us over four years. It\u2019s now that the Attorney General, through the Copyright Office ha been able to lay something in Parliament,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rex therefore called on the lawmakers to expedite the passage of these laws that would help them implement this directive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This comes on the back of the recent announcement by the Interim Directors of GHAMRO that the renewal of their licence has been withheld by the Attorney General.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said because of the the organisation will not be able to distribute royalties for its members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n