Project to Support the Expansion of Ghana’s Music Industry

Despite the growing success of African music around the world, an Afreximbank report in 2022 shows that music only accounts for 0.1% of total African GDP. In Ghana, artists and creators struggle to earn a decent living from their art and there is a lack of facilities to host shows throughout the year.

In view of the above, the Project to Support the Expansion of Ghana’s Music Industry aims to work on these two aspects of the music value chain through:

• Investment in human capital, by strengthening capacities in the music publishing sector

• Pre-feasibility studies for investments in cultural facilities, with prospects in the Round Pavilion at the Ghana Trade Fair Centre in Accra

Agence Française de Développement’s Fund for Technical Expertise and Experience Transfers (FEXTE) has allocated €500,000 for a two-year period to finance this technical cooperation programme between France and Ghana on occupations in the music publishing industry, and venues and third places for culture and arts.

This fund finances technical cooperation programmes and project preparation studies in developing countries. 2023 was the first time that a project in the music industry was financed by this type of instrument. It will benefit the Creative Arts Agency, which is under the aegis of the Ghanaian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

The Project to Support the Expansion of Ghana’s Music Industry is based on two main lines of action, each with specific objectives and the associated activities:

1. Development of Franco-Ghanaian partnerships to strengthen the musical copyright environment in Ghana to ensure that people who create and/or produce works are remunerated and protected  
   1. Organisation of awareness-raising campaigns for artists, so that they know about their rights and the income they can derive from copyright
   2. Organisation of vocational training for Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the music industry, so that they can develop their skills in music publishing and take advantage of this as yet untapped revenue in Ghana

   3. Development of networks between French and Ghanaian entrepreneurs to prepare and make agreements for the co-publishing/co-exploitation of catalogues of Ghanaian musical works

       

2. France-Ghana co-construction of a music venue project
   1. Publication of a mapping of existing cultural venues where music can be played for the benefit of the Creative Arts Agency
   2. A pre-feasibility study on the preservation and development of a heritage site, the “Round Pavilion”, and turning it into a cultural venue for music concerts