It’s very rare to meet almost all the working body in the music industry under one roof. It has been written in the history of music in Ghana that, on the 22nd day of January, 2019, MTN Ghana hosted entrepreneurs, DJs, artiste managers, videographers, producers, distributors and all parties involved in the making of the music business. MTN who has the success of Ghana music industry at heart, did the maiden edition of digital music conference which started in Accra a week ago, took the train to the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi.
Oseikrom; as passionately called by most of her inhabitants, had her most successful workshop. So it was definitely a step in the right direction for the biggest telecommunication network in the country to consider the city in terms of this workshop. The workshop saw over 300 musicians, artist managers, bloggers and producers. The likes of Flowking Stone, Brother Sammy, and a very long list of successful industry players were spotted at the conference. Also, a body from the Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) were also invited to explain their work and how important it is for recording artistes to register their songs under them.
The workshop began at 10am and had tea break for 30 minutes and continued till 3pm. The workshop ended on a lunch table, where a unified city sat and ate together. The MC was no other than one of Ghana’s well-renowned publicist/blogger/DJ, a genius the city is so proud of, NYDJ of Y102.5 FM, Kumasi. Speakers for the day were Mr. Mensah Sarpong (music producer), who gave us a breakdown of how his musical journey began, how the digital market took over the selling of CDs and DVDs in shops.
Also, one of the youngest successful artiste managers in the city, Dze Boss (BKC Boss) also gave an insightful piece on how social media and the digital market has helped artists he works with. NMunya Chanetsa, an executive member of Content Connect Africa (CCA) from South Africa and Hayford Benjamin Sedem, an artiste manager and marketer, who all educated musicians on the importance and need to getting their songs registered and distributed on online platforms even before they start sharing or giving it to DJs for airplay. These two geniuses along with the MC of the day, took their time and explained in details every single question that was asked at this conference. It was so evident that, the MTN Digital Music Conference 2019 was very successful and very helpful. The train heads to Tamale on theJanuary 25, 2019 for the same workshop.
Photo credit: Lynder Studios