After news broke out that the Melissa hitmaker, Shatta Wale, is the first Ghanaian artiste to receive a huge sum of money in royalties from the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), Shatta has chastised GHAMRO for ‘insulting’ his craft.
In his recent Twitter post, Shatta Wale wrote, “30K is an insult to my entire music career.”
Continuing his tweet, he called on his fellow artists to be vocal enough to change the narrative, he tweeted, “but this one as usual Ghana artiste will sit down and won’t voice out!!. Ego reach your turn!!! I came out before most of your so-called artiste so start crying for them cuz truth be told we all not making any money here”
https://twitter.com/shattawalegh/status/1496448923493404678
Earlier this week, the former Chairman of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), Rex Omar, revealed that Shatta Wale received immense royalties in 2021.
According to him, the ‘Melissa’ hitmaker had over ¢30,000 in royalties. That, he said, is the highest amount of money GHAMRO has given out in its history.
Speaking on national broadcaster GTV’s Tuesday morning, Rex Omar said Shatta Wale has not received his money because his team has failed to provide the needed account details.
“We did a distribution in December, and Shatta Wale was the highest earner. We spoke to his management to come and give us his account details so that we can send the money to him. We don’t know who to pay it because we don’t have his details.”
“The checks are signed prepared, either his management or he, himself, come for the check or gives us account details so that we can transfer the money into his count, and he hasn’t done that,” he told Kafui Dey, host of the show.
Rex Omar’s comment comes days after Shatta Wale lamented about the failure of the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) to pay him his royalties.
According to him, the money he has made from music comes from streaming platforms, concerts, and foreign royalty collection bodies he is signed to.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday, Shatta Wale wrote, “our work as musicians or let’s say the creatives is sad in Ghana, but the players of the game will tell you they can’t speak (because) they don’t want people to insult them. Me, I’m hungry; I want everyone to insult me… I am hungry; where is my royalties? GHANA!!!(sic)”
However, Rex Omar says GHAMRO has contacted Shatta Wale’s team on numerous occasions to ensure he gets his royalties, but their efforts have not yielded any results.
He noted that as long as the money belongs to Shatta Wale, it would remain there for him.
“GHAMRO has not been operating up to, let’s say, 100% as the way it is supposed to, but it is a work in progress. So, Shatta, your money is still at GHAMRO; bring your details so that they can pay your money to you, then start to hype GHAMRO so that it can do a lot for you,” Rex Omar said.
