Renowned Ghanaian Gospel musician, Philipa Baafi has expressed her reservation to compose a song to support any political party’s campaign.
The trained Physician Assistant noted that she is open for political parties to use her existing songs if they so wish.
The ‘Go Higher’ hitmaker explained that political parties would only demand that you compose a song akin to their desires and messages if you agree to write songs for them.
“If you tell me to do a song I won’t do it. But if the song is there and you want to use it, why not? If they want you to do a song, they will let you do a song that suits them but I don’t want to do that.
“So if I do a song and you think it suits you and you want it that’s okay. It’s like somebody doing an advert and taking one song as cover and you have to me to give you acopyright.”
Philipa Baafi
It can be recalled that Philipa Baafi’s song, ‘Go High’ was used by the NPP during their 2008 electoral campaign. The song was meanwhile released in 2007.
After a long hiatus, she bounced back with the release of a new single titled ‘Eda Ho Pefee’.
The song is a heartfelt expression of gratitude towards God for His undeniable presence and blessings in Philipa’s life, evident for all to see.
Online Streaming, Not Enough For Music Marketing
To break even and probably make some good returns on investments, Gospel diva, Philipa Baafi, believes CDs and pen drives ought to be brought back to help market music.
Don’t get it twisted but the ‘Go-Go High” singer is all for music streaming although she believes Ghana’s music industry made a rushed shift into the digital space and did not fully capitalize on the potential of hard copy sales.
Philipa, who took a three-year hiatus from music to train as Physician Assistant, believes both systems should be operated alongside each other because it will offer stakeholders a tangible means to monetize their products.
She stated that the advent of digital stores and major streaming platforms caused dwindling sales leading to a significant shift in the industry.
“Actually, I believe in streaming as well as in CDs and pen drives. You see, we are there, but not really there yet because if you compare the Western countries to us, we are not there yet. We have so many people who even don’t know anything about social media in Ghana.”
Philipa Baafi
The ‘I Go Dance’ singer emphasized the financial challenges faced by musicians, citing the high cost associated with recording, producing music videos, and promoting their work.
“With studio time costing around GHc6,000 per song, music video production averaging GHc50,000 and GHc100,000 to promote it very well using a blend of social media and traditional media, we need alternative revenue streams to sustain our careers effectively and the reintroduction of sales of music via pen drives and CDs is the best bet. And how are you going to get all this money if you are not selling?”
Philipa Baafi
According to Philipa, contrary to the misconception that there’s no longer a market for CDs and pen drives, there is still demand for hard copies of music among consumers, particularly in settings such as churches, and cars among others where digital access may be limited.
“Those who may think I am old school because of what I am saying may be wrong. I have my songs on digital platforms but if I go to the churches now and I have my CDs and pen drives with me, I will sell them. People need to play them in their cars on their way to work in the morning etc. So to me, it is feasible. Consumers are still out there. They buy CDs and we shouldn’t only spend time to promote and sell music on digital stores.”
Philipa Baafi
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