Your Music. Your Money. Your Rights.
Ghanaian music is streamed millions of times daily, played on radio stations across the country, and featured on television broadcasts — yet the musicians who created it often receive little or nothing. MUSIGA is demanding change.
Every time a Ghanaian song is played on radio, broadcast on television, streamed on Spotify or Apple Music, played in a bar or restaurant, or used in a film — the musician who created it is legally entitled to royalties. These are not optional payments. They are legally protected rights under Ghana's Copyright Act (Act 690, 2005).
Yet the reality for most Ghanaian musicians is that these royalties are either not collected, collected but not distributed, or paid at rates so low they are meaningless. MUSIGA's Royalty Reform Campaign addresses the structural failures in Ghana's royalty ecosystem and demands accountability from platforms, broadcasters, and collecting societies.
How Ghanaian Musicians Are Underpaid by Platforms
Streaming Platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music)
Major streaming platforms pay royalties based on territory-weighted stream counts. Ghana is classified as a lower-tier market, meaning streams of Ghanaian music generate a fraction of the per-stream rate paid in Europe or the US — even for the same song. Additionally, without formal licensing agreements with GHAMRO, much of the mechanical royalty that should flow to Ghanaian composers is unclaimed or unpaid.
Radio Stations
Ghana has over 300 licensed FM radio stations. Under the Copyright Act, all commercial radio stations must pay a licence fee to GHAMRO for using music. However, compliance is inconsistent, enforcement is weak, and many stations negotiate downwards or simply ignore GHAMRO demands. MUSIGA estimates that less than 40% of Ghana's radio stations are paying their legal music usage fees.
Television Broadcasters
Ghana's TV stations — including GTV, TV3, Adom TV, and numerous satellite channels — regularly use Ghanaian music in broadcasts, programmes, and adverts without appropriate licensing. This is a clear infringement of Copyright Act protections that MUSIGA is actively challenging.
Public Performance (Bars, Restaurants, Events)
Any business that plays recorded music publicly — bars, restaurants, hotels, shops, transport services — is legally required to hold a GHAMRO public performance licence. In practice, the vast majority of these businesses operate without licences, depriving Ghanaian musicians of income they are legally entitled to.
GHAMRO: Reform, Transparency, and Accountability
GHAMRO (Ghana Music Rights Organisation) is the officially designated collecting society responsible for licensing music use and distributing royalties to musicians and rights holders. MUSIGA's position is that while GHAMRO plays a critical role, significant structural reforms are required to ensure it operates transparently and distributes royalties fairly and promptly.
⚠️ The Problems We Have Identified
✅ What MUSIGA Is Demanding
What MUSIGA Is Doing About Royalty Reform
Parliamentary Engagement
MUSIGA has submitted formal memoranda to the Parliamentary Committee on Communications and the Committee on Arts and Culture calling for amendments to the Copyright Act to strengthen royalty enforcement mechanisms.
NCA Engagement
Working with the National Communications Authority to mandate licence compliance as a condition of broadcast licence renewal — meaning stations that do not pay GHAMRO fees risk losing their broadcast licence.
Streaming Platform Outreach
MUSIGA has initiated formal correspondence with Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube to open negotiations on direct licensing agreements for Ghanaian content — bypassing the current gap in GHAMRO coverage.
Public Awareness Campaign
Educating Ghanaian musicians about their royalty rights so they can register properly with GHAMRO, verify their catalogue is correctly catalogued, and follow up on unclaimed royalties.
International Advocacy
Working with FIM (International Federation of Musicians) and IFPI to put pressure on global streaming platforms to improve royalty rates for artists in lower-tier markets including Ghana.
Legal Action Fund
MUSIGA is building a legal action fund to support test cases against non-compliant broadcasters — establishing legal precedent for royalty enforcement under Ghanaian copyright law.
How to Protect and Claim Your Royalties
Register with GHAMRO
Visit GHAMRO's offices in Accra to register as a rights holder. Submit a full catalogue of your original compositions. Registration is free for MUSIGA members.
Register Your Works with CISAC
Through GHAMRO, your works should be registered with CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) — ensuring international streaming royalties can be tracked back to you.
Audit Your ISRC Codes
Every recording should have an International Standard Recording Code (ISRC). Without it, streaming platforms cannot correctly attribute plays to your work. Ask your distributor to confirm all your releases have valid ISRC codes.
Claim Unclaimed Royalties
Through MUSIGA's member portal, you can access guidance on checking and claiming unclaimed royalties held by GHAMRO, streaming platforms, and international collecting societies.
Join the Royalty Reform Campaign
MUSIGA members can sign the Royalty Reform petition, access our GHAMRO registration guide, and use our royalty checklist to audit whether your music is correctly registered for maximum royalty collection. The more musicians who engage, the stronger our case with GHAMRO and Parliament.
Every Ghanaian musician deserves to be paid for every play, every broadcast, and every stream of their music.