Ghanaian media consultant, Francis Doku, has shared his view on the #PlayGhana initiative.
In December 2023, the Creative Arts Agency (CAA), the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC) and some stakeholders in the creative industry launched the #PlayGhana initiative.
It was aimed at promoting Ghanaian music to both local and international audiences in the country.
Speaking as a panellist on Graphic’s Showbiz’s X Dialogue series on the topic ’Is #Play Ghana Agenda a worthy cause?’, Mr Doku pointed out some potential shortcomings in the initiative.
He stated that the #PlayGhana initiative should not be imposed on Ghanaians.
“With this particular agenda, we need to be using more of the moral suasion than legislation. For me, I think the difficulty will be how we are going to monitor and implement the playing of more Ghanaian music on the 70 and 30 ratio.
“We are in a very difficult place because music consumption is not only determined by what’s being played on radio and TV alone. It is what’s on new media as well. There’s no proper control over what happens on new media. How do we measure that? We know new media is not DJ-driven, and that even makes it more difficult to police content consumed by the public. We need to encourage consumption and not impose it on the people.
“The initiative is not something we can monitor to properly execute so the best option for me is to encourage and make consumers see the need to play Ghanaian music on the airwaves and at other social events. This is a matter of moral suasion, else it won’t go anywhere,” said Francis Doku.
