Google woos Ghanaian musicians to Google Plus

Gyedu Blay Ambolley

Google has held a creative forum for Ghanaian musicians in Accra, introducing artists to the advantages of using Google Plus to promote their music, activities, interaction with fans among others. The event which took place at the Citizen Kofi Entertainment Centre in Osu, saw several musicians and their management in attendance.


Google officials took the artists through how to create and use Google Plus accounts, Google Plus pages, Hang Out, sharing music, videos and other links. During the interactive session, the musicians seemed keen on how to protect their music and privacy on Google Plus, while exploring what added benefits Google plus could have for them over other social media platforms.

Some musicians requested Google to integrate a music player into Google Plus that would allow artists to share music and create playlists for fans to listen to, similar to what other platforms like Facebook have. Another issue that musicians raised with Google was how to monetize their works in the form of sales of music on Google plus, and partnering with YouTube to create revenue on the hits from their videos on YouTube. 

Currently the YouTube Partner program doesn’t work in Ghana, and according to Google officials, work is in progress to make the function available in Ghana or for Google to identify videos that have large viewership in order to instigate a partnership from Google.  Google also assured the musicians that the issue of introducing a music player on Google Plus was already under consideration.

The musicians who didn’t already have a Google Plus accounts or pages had the opportunity to create their own with assistance from Google officials.  The forum also saw some performances from some of the participating musicians including Dadie Opanka, Sitso and Asaase Abban. Also present at the forum were Obour, President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Edem, Diamond, Atumpan, Pope Skinny, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Bessa Simmons, Yaa  Pono and others.
A similar interaction with other creatives such as poets and fashion designers has also been held. Throughout the week, Google has been holding a series of forums with different groups including developers, businesses, web designers and tech enthusiasts to explore the various supports, products and services from Google.

Credit: Ameyaw Debrah