Sarkodie: Creatives are taken for granted

Multiple award winning rapper Sarkodie is not excited that people in authority use the works of creatives yet the sector continues to lack support.

In a series of tweets yesterday, September 28 to lend his support to fellow artiste, Kirani Ayat who called out the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) for using his works to promote domestic tourism without his permission, the Adonai hitmaker said such happenings were forcing creatives to give up their dreams.

“A lot of creatives giving up on their dreams due to the system out here, it’s either you wanna join the mediocre or you quit (if you wanna do something epic) because it’s no joke… we talking serious money…

“We (creatives) do a lot to put our country out there attracting a lot of tourists and investors that translates to money to help nation building yet that’s one sector with no support. I feel my brother and support him especially if he actually reached out and didn’t get help,” he tweeted.

Kirani Ayat: Musician doubles down on copyright claim following GTA explanation

Background

Ayat first raised concerns about the use of his Guda music video when it was shared by the Twitter handle of President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, September 27.

According to him, he reached out to the Ministry of Tourism for support before shooting the said music video but he was turned down.

The video was shot in northern Ghana and features the local culture.

On Tuesday Ayat tweeted: “The President of Ghana has used my video 'Guda' in this ad to promote Ghana. I was actively reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism in 2018/19 to use this video to push tourism in the North and got no reply, yet today it’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission”.

Responding to the musician's concerns in a statement yesterday, the GTA said the footage was acquired legitimately from a creative agency in 2019.

However, the GTA said it had contacted the agency to deal with the matter.

“This video has thus been played locally and internationally without any issue. The content was used in accordance with the terms agreed with the agency and not as being alleged," the GTA said.

In a response to the GTA's statement, Kirani Ayat in a statement said no agency had any rights to his "intellectual property".

He also urged the GTA to name and direct the agency to produce documents to show that he had an agreement with them.

The issue has sparked interest from players in the entertainment industry and beyond, with many launching a ‘Compensate Ayat’ social media campaign.

Musician Pure Akan also showed his support by tweeting: “Compensate Ayat”.