Daddy Bosco defends GH¢2M music research

The Director of Communications and Special Projects of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Ahuma Ocansey popularly known as Daddy Bosco had defended the GH¢2 M the union claimed to have sunk into research was necessary to improving the music industry.

MUSIGA has faced public backlash over how it used the money allocated to the creative arts industry in 2012 by the then government.

Many stakeholders have criticised the Union for what they see as an excessive amount of money spent on solely on research conducted by KPMG.

However, Daddy Bosco in an interview with Showbiz, yesterday said the comprehensive research conducted into the music industry by KPMG, led to several recommendations which have already been implemented.

He mentioned the creation of a separate ministry for the creative arts as well as the MUSIGA Academy as among some of the recommendations.

“The MUSIGA Academy was created to train musicians and so far, it has turned out the first batch of 120 graduates who were trained free of charge. The second batch, which is fee paying, is already undergoing training and are expected to graduate soon,” he said.

Daddy Bosco said the research document also stated that the Ministry of Education should reconsider elevating music as a discipline in basic and secondary schools.

He added that one major recommendation which is being worked on is for for KPMG to engage the Ghana Investment Promotion Company (GIPC) to make presentations to investors about investing in the music industry.

 “Without data from evidence based research such as what MUSIGA conducted, it is impossible to make a case for investing in the industry. The research identified potential areas of growth and concessions such as tax holidays for people interested investing in the industry,” he said.

He said the MUSIGA board, after the research and advice by KPMG focused on improving GHAMRO and finding viable ways to pay musicians their royalties which is already being implemented.