Kirani Ayat: Musician Calls Out Akufo-Addo For Using His Music Video To Promote Tourism Without Permission

• Kirani Ayat, a young musician, has accused President Akufo-Addo and the Ministry of Tourism of using his work without obtaining authorisation
• The singer called out Akufo-Addo after he shared a video on Twitter to promote tourism in the country
• A music executive, Chris Tsormanah, who has been following the development has described Ayat's case as a solid one

Ghanaian musician Kirani Ayat has called out President Nana Akufo-Addo over the use of parts of his music video, Guda, for a promotional video.

Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, shared a video on Twitter to promote tourism in the country. The video which has the president's voice in the background showed the many tourist attractions in the country.

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"Beneath the deep blue sky, the Black Star is calling. Follow the stars and let them take you on a journey of our people. I invite everyone to the country at the centre of the world - #Ghana . #VisitGhana2022," the president's caption read.

But Ayat who retweeted the post by Akufo-Addo on the bird app complained that the video in the post shared by the president was from his music video and has been used without his permission.

Particularly irking Ayat was his claim that the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Arts, and Culture, had snubbed him when he reached out for them to use the song for the same purpose about three years ago.

According he had sought to get the Tourism Ministry to use his song to promote tourism in Northern Ghana sometime in 2018/2019 but they refused and are now using the song with consulting him.

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"The president of Ghana has used my video “GUDA” in this ad to promote Ghana. I was actively reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism in 2018/19 to use this video to push tourism in the North and got NO reply, yet today it’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission," Ayat said.

Ayat has a good case

The matter being pursued by Kirani Ayat has been described as a good case by Chris Tsormanah, a renowned music executive.

In a telephone interview with YEN.com.gh, Tsormanah, a regular entertainment analyst on radio and TV, indicated that Ayat stands to get a big compensation if he handles his case well.

According to him, there is every indication to believe that artiste's work was used without his authority and for promotional purposes.

"In copyright, all the claimant or artiste has to do is to prove that his or her work has been used by the other party without his permission and for commercial activities.

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"In Ayat's case, the government, through the Ministry of Tourism, used his song to promote tourism in Ghana which is expected to generate some revenue. So there are no two ways about that," he said.

Notwithstanding his good case, Tsormanah advised Ayat not to solely focus on going to court but also consider an out-of-court settlement.

Sarkodie backs Ayat

Meanwhile, Sarkodie has thrown his support behind Kirani Ayat over his claim that the government took a snippet from his 2018 'Guda' hit song without permission.

Airing his concerns in a quoted tweet, Sarkodie challenged the incumbent government to support creatives since they don't get any support whatsoever.

Ayat reacted to Sarkodie's tweet, with many other social media users reacting to the Ministry of Tourism's actions.

Source: YEN.com.gh