The government, under the leadership of the Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, inaugurated a new music streaming platform named Ghana Music Xperience (GMX) on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, at De Icon Centre.
The app, launched in partnership with a private company, GMX Multimedia, and designed by Omni Strategies, had the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture support.
In his speech at the event, Dr. Bawumia expressed his hope and confidence that the partnership will help boost the music business in Ghana.
However, music producer and tech expert, Kobby Spiky Nkrumah doubts the app’s effective functionality, even though the vice president has assured Ghanaians.
He explained that the majority of industry players, including musicians and managers, particularly those in rural areas, are not well acquainted with the already existing streaming platforms and have not been properly educated and trained on the processes involved in using the apps.
This makes the GMX App a failure even before it commences operation.
“There’s a lot of education that needs to be done for our musicians. I’ve been doing stuff with music and going around the regions training them on understanding the power of digital marketing and solutions to benefit them and their craft and to put their content out there.
“You would realize that there’s a lot of knowledge that’s lacking, and so people are suffering today. Someone is monetizing their music, uploading their music on their behalf, or earning royalties from their music from Spotify, YouTube, and the rest because they don’t know how it’s done.”
Kobby Spiky Nkrumah
He further questioned how individuals in rural areas would be able to put their music on the streaming platform. “So you’ve brought GMX; now every musician in the rural areas who would have made music and are looking for a way to put it out there, how are they going to put their music on GMX? All these questions need to be answered,” he said.
Kobby revealed that the GMX app may be failing on arrival because most people are not well abreast with how the platform operates.
“They don’t even know how to get their music out there. They rely on people to do it for them, and most of the time they get cheated out of their royalties or streaming numbers. So that problem has not been fixed; GMX may be failing on arrival because a lot of people will be holding their music and asking where they are going to put their music on GMX.”
Kobby Spiky Nkrumah
The tech expert thinks thorough education, training, and empowerment should have been done at the conceptualization stage of the initiative before its launch.
He asserted that 90% of musicians across the country will not be able to access the app when operation begins.
Kobby Highlights Govts’ Need to Consider Apps’ Business Aspect
Kobby Spiky highlighted that the government needs to consider the business aspect of the app, as advertisers and subscribers are involved but have unfortunately not been informed about its financial benefits to patronize it.
He also questioned the number of advertisers who will spend on the GMX app.
“How many advertisers are going to spend on GMX? How many subscribers are going to subscribe to GMX? Because that is what is going to generate the revenue you’re going to share across these artists who are on this platform.
“It’s going to get to a point where the money is not enough, and some people are going to be like, How much do I even make on GMX? So, we need to think about the business module of it. That’s why I said it’s dead on arrival.”
Kobby Spiky Nkrumah
The music producer reemphasized that a lot of sensitization needs to be done to convince people to patronize the app, making it effective and relevant, especially since it will compete with other international platforms.
He suggested that the app should not be limited to only Ghanaian creatives but should be expanded globally to attract more users.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Music Xperience is expected to be operational from January 2025.
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