Ghanaian music video directors have called out Ghanaian musicians to appreciate their value, or else they may remain underpaid even though they shoot very good music videos.
Speaking in an interview, music video director, Annor Ebenezer, popularly known as Xbills, explained that most top musicians know the worth of music directors yet, do not pay them what is due them. According to him, it is time musicians in Ghana valued their creativity by paying them well.
“I have worked with top musicians in Ghana and I know if I were elsewhere, I would have been very well paid. It seems most of these top musicians do not understand why they should pay a music video director in Ghana well enough to shoot a music video. The equipment used in these music videos are expensive and some of us even rent them. We have cinematographers, light men, and sound men we work with who need to be paid for their services too but I don’t think the musicians consider all that”.
Xbills
Xbills lamented that these same musicians would go abroad and pay so much to a foreign music video director yet would plead with those here that they didn’t have money but would want good quality videos.
“Enough of the pleading. It is time Ghanaian musicians appreciate our work and pay us what we are due. If you know we deserve to be well paid, just do it and we will deliver,” Xbills retorted.
Wading into the conversation, Video Director, Yaw SkyFace noted that if only Ghanaian musicians know the benefit of music videos, they will invest a lot of money into it.
“We work with the budget we have and even with the small amount, we are able to do a good job. This means we can shoot equally good quality videos just like the directors abroad. We just need a good budget and location and we are good to go. If Ghanaian musicians have confidence in us and pay us well, we will deliver more”.
Yaw SkyFace
Yaw SkyFace, who has also worked with some A-List artists from Ghana, added that in addition to being underpaid, finding the right locations was another big challenge for them. According to him, anywhere video directors want to shoot music videos, money is demanded and this limits them in doing their work.
Joining the conversation, Cinematographer, Fiifi Mensah, who has worked with most of the top directors in the country said when directors are paid well, it transcends to other people who also contributed their skills in making the music video.
“Music directors work with cinematographers, light men, sound men, props, and what have you. To me, it is not as if Ghanaian musicians don’t have money, they just don’t see the value in music videos and it is about time they realised that music videos speak a lot about them. In fact, you are rated good or bad according to your music videos”.
Fiifi Mensah
However, singer, Akwaboah, who doesn’t share the sentiment of the music directors, said shooting a music video outside the country with foreign directors would always be more expensive than using the services of a local director because of location.
“I recently shot a music video in the UK and USA and the locations cannot be compared with here. There are different locations you can shoot to get the standard you want”.
Akwaboah
Akwaboah further made some claims that some local directors charge exorbitant fees and do not use the money for its intended purposes. He explained that he has not experienced this but knows it goes on.
“When a musician faces such troubles, he would obviously go in for a foreign director and pay well for good results,” Akwaboah noted.
Read also: Monkey Pox Infection: Expert Calls For Scale Up In Surveillance To Detect Cases
