Musicians Union of Ghana bemoans delayed Broadcasting Bill

The bill, claims the union, would go some way in answering certain questions pertaining to the broadcasting of music and film by Ghanaian creators.

The Union's president, Bice Osei Kuffour, directed Ghana's Ministry of Communication to a document produced by MUSIGA, the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) and the Ghana Actors Guild (GAG) last year. The document mentioned matters involving all three establishments.

"The issue of foreign versus local content on our airwaves is of great concern to us as a Union and we believe it’s in our national interest to regulate the amount of local versus foreign content we play or screen on air," said Kuffour.

The debate concerning the passage of the broadcasting bill has continued for years. In 2014, a call for the passage of the bill formed a part of a panel on broadcast pluralism. One of the speakers at the event was the director of the School of Communications Studies at the University of Ghana, Audrey Gadzekpo.

“We need a comprehensive law that can address the complex question of broadcasting regulations in today’s environment, where with the advance of technology, information and communications are converging," said Gadzekpo. "For example how to deal with the novel challenges of regulating internet broadcasting and the social media, while enabling the freedoms that these media provide humanity."

Part of the product from the conference was a communique, which noted that "the validity period for broadcasting authorisation may pose some challenges to business interests as the five-years for radio and nine-years for TV may not be the interest of investors."

For MUSIGA and the aforementioned organisations, besides the utility of the contested validity period to investors, there are issues to be addressed by the Broadcasting Bill.

These include MUSIGA's suggestion that payment of the appropriate fees to Ghana Music Rights Organisation or the Audiovisual Rights Society of Ghana should be done before broadcasting operators receive approval from the National Communication Authority. Other issues include a clear definition of local content and its exact percentage of airplay compared to foreign content. A recommendation of 70 percent local and 30 percent foreign content has been proposed.

Discussions around the percentage of local music played by broadcasters have again arisen as a recent concert by Ghanaian acts that took place in Nigeria has been considered unsuccessful by figures in the Ghanaian music and media scenes.