The President of the Music Alliance, Seven Xavier, has criticized the revenue-sharing models of music streaming platforms, arguing that they are unfavourable for artistes and fail to provide adequate financial support for their work.
According to Xavier, these platforms generate significant revenue from artistes’ music but offer minimal payouts in return, leaving many musicians in Ghana struggling to benefit financially from their craft.
Speaking on The Chat on Channel One TV on Saturday, November 16, 2024, Xavier addressed the potential of local streaming platforms to elevate Ghanaian artistes.
While acknowledging their ability to provide global exposure, he emphasized that the financial returns for musicians remain insufficient, calling for improved models that better support the industry.
“Streaming platforms make music accessible to anyone and everyone and you could have a global audience in a matter of days or weeks. But at the end of the day, what else will count is how much money you are getting from all the people listening to you. Because Spotify’s only problem they have now is that artistes are protesting that the $0.003 per stream is too little for those who make money or live on streams.
“From the onset, there wasn’t a model that favours the artiste,” he stated.
Software Engineer and Consultant Solomon Appier-Sign, also appearing on the show, shared insights on the complexities of making streaming lucrative for artistes.
He emphasised that significant effort is required to promote music and ensure discoverability on streaming platforms.
Using recommendation algorithms as an example, he highlighted their potential to give new artistes exposure.
“It is difficult to say whether it is lucrative or not. But there is a lot of work that needs to go into the promotion to make the song discoverable. I can hear an artiste’s song once and fall in love with it. So, recommendations can help discover such an artiste.
“So, if an artiste is new, and he gets the chance to be recommended or collaborate with someone who gives him that exposure, his story will be different from someone who feels like ‘I have 5 million a month and this is what you are paying me. I also feel our artistes have played a role in them being exploited. you want to bargain what you deserve but no one is helping you with the business side of it,” he stated.
By: William Narh
