Ghana: MUSIGA exec touts music recognition newcomer to solve data gap

Adu-Poku shared this in an interview with Music In Africa this week, following the GoCreate app’s launch in Ghana in December. “Our industry has a dire need for data,” he said. “Data is the heart of everything: logging, royalties and promotion. Unfortunately, we do not have any. GoCreate provides the avenue, hence the need for collaboration.”

The app’s launch in Ghana follows a successful trial in Nigeria, which was implemented in partnership with the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria. The move forms part of expansion efforts for GoCreate Africa, which is taking its innovation to a number of other African countries including Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Uganda and South Africa in the first quarter of 2022.

GoCreate, whose makers say it is the first of its kind in Africa, boasts tracking and monitoring technology for the enhancement of copyright administration. The development will see the provision of the specialised data service to MUSIGA at zero cost to its members.

Adu-Poku said MUSIGA would provide the Nigerian startup with “the necessary enabling environment to operate in the Ghanaian music space.” He said GoCreate would monitor airplay by deploying black boxes across the Ghanaian music landscape, including physical spaces like event venues, nightclubs and hotels. “The company will also gather metadata of Ghanaian music and monitor plays. The data will be made available to all. Hopefully, the Ghana Music Rights Organisation will use the data to pay royalties,” he said.

GoCreate has also partnered with Ghana Music Live, a music media organisation, to publish charts based on airplay data in the country.

Speaking at the Ghana launch last month, GoCreate Africa managing director and co-founder Asha ‘Gangali’ Fapohunda said his platform would bring technology-driven solutions to Africa’s creative industries and in the process create an ecosystem for genuine intellectual property monitoring and monetisation.

“The primary cause of revenue loss in Africa’s creative sector is due to the lack of data and digital solutions,” he said. “GoCreate has been able to provide the solution to these problems with the deployment of GoMonitor, a digital solution for copyright and royalty management. Collective management organisations across Africa can now come on board our GoMonitor service, which provides radio/TV airplay data including DSP [digital service provider] reporting, etc. This will enable CMOs to distribute catalogue-specific royalties and close the revenue gaps in the music industries by instituting full compliance to copyright laws. This will empower African talents and secure music publishing revenues both locally and globally.”

Meanwhile, GoCreate Africa is exploring distribution with the launch of its DIY digital service GoDistro, which allows artist and labels to distribute music to more than 150 digital stores globally. The service will also provide free radio airplay monitoring in key territories across Africa as well as NFT and blockchain distribution with visibility to a global audience.