Politicians have failed the music industry – Okyeame Kwame

Hiplife musician, Okyeame Kwame has expressed worry over the Ghanaian music industry, stating that it has been static and lacks the deserved growth for over 20 years because politicians have failed the music industry.

Speaking in a one on one interview with Ghanaian Journalist Attractive Mustapha, the “Rap Doctor” said though a lot of things seem to have improved within the Ghanaian music industry for over a decade now the industry is a bit static because “the musician has failed himself, the corporate world has failed the musician and also the politicians have failed the musicians and the industry as a whole.

According to him, one thing that is really affecting the Ghanaian musician to grow is a negative perception about musicians, where the corporate world looks down on artists and does not place the appropriate value during contracts and business engagements.

He linked the reasons to historic and cultural factors where the veteran musicians used to play music and entertain fans for peanuts.

Using Nigeria as an example, Okyeame Kwame said that the Nigerian government pumps millions of Dollars into their Entertainment industry which has changed the bad perception about Nigeria from a ‘Sakawa’ internet fraud otherwise known as article “419” which is adding up to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.

“In Nigeria, I know that every year not less than 6 billion dollars is being invested in their entertainment industry. Initially, when you think of Nigeria the first thing that comes to mind is ‘419’, but today because their politicians have understood the role of Arts in the economy, they invest huge money into the industry which has increased their GDP tremendously,” he told Attractive Mustapha.

Source: Attractivemustapha.com