No Middlemen/payment needed to submit videos – ‘Trace Jama’ channel to Ghanaian artistes

Payment of money or middlemen is not a requirement to submit videos to ‘Trace Jama,’ the new Television channel dedicated to the promotion of Ghanaian music.

The 24-hour channel is a partnership between Pan African music channel, TRACE and pay TV giant, MultiChoice.

“Most importantly, video submission, and I want you to put this in bold letters, VIDEO SUBMISSION IS FREE. Do not pay anybody to submit videos to TRACE,” asserted Lanre Masha, General Manager, Music and Editorial, TRACE exclusively to livefmghana.com.

“It is free. You can go online trace.tv to submit your video or via jama@trace.tv. Don’t let any middlemen or anybody tell you anything different.”

On the issue of what constitutes a quality video, he cited videos of Bosom Pyung including the viral ‘Attaa Adwoa’ visual to buttress the idea that the quality of a video isn’t necessarily determined by its high expenditure but rather how creative it is, quality of a song and response from music audience.

‘Trace Jama’ airs in 49 countries across Africa on DStv Channel 333 and GOtv channel 160, and will stream live on the DStv Now platform.

Some of Ghana’s leading entertainment industry personalities including Reggie Rockstone, Kofi Okyere Darko, MzGee, Bliss Kingg, Deborah Vanessa and D Black among others attended the launch of the channel held at the RockStone’s Office, Cantonments on March 3, 2020.

Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, Managing Director, Anne Sackey, Head of Marketing, Nii Armah Dagadu, Corporate Affairs Manager and other staff of MultiChoice Ghana Ltd. were also present at the launch.

“We found a worthy partner in the TRACE brand. They understand the African arts and entertainment scene, and came to the party excited to support the promotion of the Ghanaian arts,” shared Sunkwa-Mills of the partnership that birthed the channel.

Trace Jama opens “a window to showcase the rich music, art, culture and lifestyle trends from Ghana to the world.”

“We are here to support and push Ghanaian music to the fore front. Our focus is to take the best of Ghanaian music across all genres that we can capture and take it to the world. Trace Jama shows in 49 countries. That is huge for any artiste because people in different parts get familiar with your music,” added Masha.

Lanre Masha, General Manager, Music and Editorial, TRACE

Founded in 2003, TRACE is a global multi-platform media and entertainment that reaches over 300 million viewers and listeners across 162 countries.

It leverages the power and creativity of Hip Hop, Urban, African, Brazilian and Caribbean culture to connect and empower the new generation and creators through its in-house development, production, financing, media, digital, distribution and branding capabilities.

Masha also explained to livefmghana.com why the name Trace Jama “is fitting” even though it has caused contention among some stakeholders in the industry.

“We choose ‘Trace Jama’ because the name is significant and it’s about coming together. Coming together which I think is really, really important between artistes, stakeholders and everybody to come together to propel African music industry. We have to work together. We can’t do it alone as a media house, and artistes can’t do it alone as artistes so we have to come together to work together and build the ecosystem so it is fitting.”

He encouraged Ghanaian artistes to reach out “if they have ideas,” stressing that channel Executives are “willing to meet with any artiste whatever the case maybe” so Trace Jama can empower them by promoting and amplifying their initiatives.

“We are Ghanaian music, and we are here to support, grow and build the music industry with the help, support and collaboration of the Ghanaian music industry,” remarked Masha of the music channel.

“When we say ‘we’ it is an inclusive word, in that ‘we together.’ it’s us so that’s the key thing. We are in this together to build the industry.”

Akwasi Agyeman, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Tourism Authority commended the partnership that led to the channel, adding that it will help Ghana’s quest to attract more tourists to the country.

Mark Okraku Mantey, President of the Creative Arts Council urged Ghanaian artistes to take advantage of the opportunity to promote their work by submitting content that represents the quality associated with the country.

Originally published on http://livefmghana.com on March 23, 2020.

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