Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) is a royalties collection agency within Ghana that represents the rights of music copyright holders. [1] It was created under Section 49 of the Copyright Law, Act 690 of 2005. [1] [2] The agency collects royalties for all rights owners in Ghana. [3] Before 2005, that function had been operated by the Copyright Society of Ghana. [3] The organization has faced regular criticism about its transparency and engagement of stakeholders. [2] As of 2018, the organization was led by Rex Omar. [4] [5] As of May 2021, Abraham Adjatey, commonly known as 'Agya Abraham', was the GHAMRO CEO. [6]
A copyright collective is a non-governmental body created by copyright law or private agreement which licenses copyrighted works on behalf of the authors and engages in collective rights management. Copyright societies track all the events and venues where copyrighted works are used and ensure that the copyright holders listed with the society are remunerated for such usage. The copyright society publishes its own tariff scheme on its websites and collects a nominal administrative fee on every transaction.
A performance rights organisation (PRO), also known as a performing rights society, provides intermediary functions, particularly collection of royalties, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works publicly in locations such as shopping and dining venues. Legal consumer purchase of works, such as buying CDs from a music store, confer private performance rights. PROs usually only collect royalties when use of a work is incidental to an organisation's purpose. Royalties for works essential to an organisation's purpose, such as theaters and radio, are usually negotiated directly with the rights holder. The interest of the organisations varies: many have the sole focus of musical works, while others may also encompass works and authors for audiovisual, drama, literature, or the visual arts.
Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without a separate agreement.
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective rights management of sound recordings on behalf of its record-company members, and distributes the fees collected to both its record company members and performer members. As of 2022, PPL collected royalties for over 140,000 performers and recording rightsholders.
SoundExchange is an American non-profit collective rights management organization spun off from the RIAA in 2003. It is the sole organization designated by the U.S. Congress to collect and distribute digital performance royalties for sound recordings.
Downtown Music Holdings is an independent rights management and music services company based in the US State of New York. It comprises 10 businesses. All divisions live under the Downtown Music Holdings umbrella and are split between two verticals, Creator and Business.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is an independent governmental organization charged with safeguarding of human rights and investigating human rights abuses in Ghana. It was established in 1993 by Act 456 of the Parliament of Ghana as directed by Article 216 of the 1992 Ghana constitution.
Livingstone Etse Satekla, better known by his stage name Stonebwoy, is a Ghanaian Afropop, Afro-dancehall and reggae musician.
Stacy Amoateng is television presenter/producer, media consultant, philanthropist and actress from Ghana. She founded a charitable organisation to support women and children in need and has been recognised for her work via a Ghana Peace Award.
Diana Hopeson is Ghanaian gospel singer and a former president of the Musicians Union of Ghana. Her contributions to the Ghanaian Art industry won her a National Honors Award, which was presented to her by former president John Agyekum Kufuor in 2007. In March 2021, she was among the Top 30 Most Influential Women in Music by the 3Music Awards Women's Brunch. She was also a GHAMRO board member and also the Chairperson of the Interim Management Board of the Copyright Society of Ghana. In the same year, she was selected by BJ Sam, the Nigerian international singer and producer, to represent the Ghana in the first universal Christmas music project with other global music icons including Hollywood Actor Paul Raci, Bollywood playback singer Jaspinder Narula, and Swiss actress Christina Zurbrügg.
Kainya, known as Lord Kenya, is a former Ghanaian Hiplife artist who is currently an Evangelist. He is best known for his hits such as "Enyom No" and "Medo."
Oral Kwame Ofori, professionally known as Oral Ofori, is a Ghanaian-American award-winning digital media producer and blogger, freelance journalist, entrepreneur, and writer. Born in Tema, he is also the founder of the US-based communication consultancy TheAfricanDream LLC. In February 2018 Ofori took on a language interpretation job as a level II interpreter of the Twi and Ga language with the Fairfax County Public Schools system. In December 2021 Mr. Ofori started work with the Embassy of Ghana, Washington, D.C. as Head of the Customer Relations Office under Ambassador Alima Mahama. In February 2024 Mr Ofori's firm TheAfricanDream LLC partnered the Washington DC government in the United States to provide media for the event dubbed Africa on the Avenue to support local businesses.
Rex Omar is a Ghanaian highlife artist. He first rose to prominence in 1989 with the Aware Pa album which also included the track, Wodofo Ne Hwan? Following this, in 1992 he formed the Highlife Supergroup Nakorex together with fellow Highlife artists Nat Brew and Akosua Agyapong, the group's name being an acronym made up of the first letters of each member's name. He then pursued a solo career. He performed together with Sony Achiba. In 2004 Omar was nominated for a Kora award, and in 2005 he was nominated as Artiste of the Year in the Ghana Music Awards.
Ellen Hagan is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, human resource practitioner and the CEO of L’aine Services Limited. She is a Co-Founder of Legacy Girls College.
Selassie Ibrahim is a Ghanaian actress, film producer, mother, philanthropist, entrepreneur and the CEO of Smarttys Management and production. Selassie Ibrahim has starred in movies like "Her Mother’s Man" which was directed by Desmond Elliott for IROKOtv. She has also featured in movies like without bounds, love shenanigans, Graduation, City crime, I hate you too, Meet the Jacobs, 40 looks good on you, just to mention a few
Marufatu Abiola Bawuah is a Ghanaian finance and businesswoman. As of 2014, she became the managing director/chief executive officer of United Bank for Africa, making her the first women to have held that position. She has won several awards for her work which includes the 2016 Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana Marketing Woman of the Year and the Finance Personality of the Year Award at the Ghana Accountancy and Finance.
Concord, the assumed business name of Alchemy Copyrights LLC, is an independent American holding company dealing in creative rights primarily in the music industry. It develops, manages and acquires sound recordings, music publishing rights, theatrical performance rights and narrative content. It has been funded by Barings LLC, by Sound Investors and by members of its management team.
Celestine Donkor is a Ghanaian gospel musician and songwriter. In March 2021, she was among the Top 30 Most Influential Women in Music by the 3Music Awards Women's Brunch. She founded the Celestial Praise, an annual Gospel music concert.
The Ghana Armwrestling Federation (GAF) is the national federation in charge of regulating armwrestling in Ghana. The Ghana Armwrestling Federation was inaugurated in September 2016. The federation was founded by broadcast journalist Charles Osei Asibey and inaugurated in September 2016 by the National Sports Authority as the 40th sporting federation in Ghana. The Ghana Armwrestling Federation is affiliated to the World Armwrestling Federation and has been a member of the international body since 2016. Charles Osei Asibey is the President of the Ghana Armwrestling Federation. Husseini Akueteh is the head referee of the Ghana Armwrestling Federation.
The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) is a Ghanaian government agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The GEA is mandated by the Ghana Enterprises Agency Act, 2020 to promote and develop MSMEs in Ghana. It replaced the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI).