Split Sheets in Ghanaian Recording Studios

The split sheet used at a recording studio is one of the essential means for any creative artist who understands its implementation benefits from the royalties that the creative work generates as it gets commercial merchandise. However, surprisingly, Ghanaian music producers and practitioners are yet to tap into the full potential of this avenue. This paper investigates the awareness and benefits of the split sheet among Ghanaian music producers and practitioners in the recording industry and the extent to which they have explored it. Using a mixed-methods mode of inquiry for data collection, we sampled music producers and practitioners (n = 218) in Ghana to briefly analyse the moneymaking through split sheets of songs available to music practitioners in Ghana’s recording industry. It was noted that 94.9% of respondents were unaware of the split sheet, while 92.7% did not know the benefit of the split sheet. However, only 4.6% of the respondents had used the split sheet. Subsequently, we conclude that the low awareness of the split sheet among Ghanaian music producers and practitioners compromises the decorum of the business side of creativity in the Ghanaian recording industry. Therefore, we recommend that more intensive education be undertaken to sensitise Ghanaian music producers and practitioners to the benefit of the split sheet in their daily work to enhance revenue generation.

Keywords: Creative artistes, music business, music producer, recording studio, royalties, split sheets