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Is Gee about to win the battle? Africell call for an emergency meeting after reports of artists exploitation
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Is Gee about to win the battle? Africell call for an emergency meeting after reports of artists exploitation

Both the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) and the Collecting Society have called for a meeting with Africell after revelations that the company is refusing to share the revenue from the sale of songs by Gambian artists as fun ringtones. 

In July, 2013, leading rapper, Gee expressed his concern that the mobile telecommunications giant was exploiting the music industry, and urged his colleagues to be watchful against companies that do not have the musicians’ interest at heart.  

He was able to mobilize artists like T-Smallz, Mighty Joe, ENC, Manding Morry and few others to tell Africell that “enough is enough.” 

According to reliable information reaching What’s On-Gambia, closed-door negotiations are currently taking place to resolve the problem. The musicians are represented by Gee and Hakim of Sunland Music. 

The meeting is coordinated by the NCAC, Collecting Society and The Gambia Music Union, under the watchful eyes of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Members of the negotiation team include Collecting Society’s president, Mrs. Dembo Fanta Bojang, veteran musician, Oko Drammeh and the president of The Gambia Music Union, Dr. Oliver Mboge. 

The Africell representatives are Commercial Department manager, Kamil and his co-worker, Flexman, who is also a Gambian music pundit. 

The aim of the meeting, according to our source, is to forge a more professional relationship between artists and Africell. “It’s not about compensation, because the artists signed a contract with Africell before they started selling their songs as fun ringtones,” said our source. “The government recently created The Collecting Society to collect royalties for the artists and the fun ringtone problem is their first assignment.” 

When our reporter contacted Gee to find out more about the on-going negotiations, he said; “I don’t want to comment now, because we’re still negotiating and I would recommend you contact me when things are finalized.” 

A next meeting is scheduled to take place soon. More information on this in our subsequent editions. 

 

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