Moliy exposes payola in Ghana’s music scene: ‘You have to pay to be seen’

Ghanaian musician Moliy has opened up on how she had to take matters into her own hands to promote her music after facing challenges with music distribution and payola in the industry.

In an interview with US-based media outlet Revolt TV, the “Shake It to the Max” hitmaker revealed that she went almost the entire year in 2024 without releasing a song because she and her manager were trying to secure a distribution deal.

According to her, they had several meetings with distribution companies that seemed promising, but nothing materialized.

Moliy added that when it became clear the deals were not moving forward, her manager advised her to start teasing her music online so people would know she was working.

Moliy also noted that to keep things simple and cost-effective, she made sure the content she created to tease her music was something she could do by herself, without needing professional support or expensive production.

She explained that working as an independent artiste in Ghana meant that getting recognition or collaborations required payola; money paid to media outlets or influencers for exposure.

“I realized at some point that I was actively seeking [distribution]. I hadn’t released music for a whole year in 2024, and me and my manager were trying to get a [distribution deal] so I could put out music. The conversations were sounding positive, but nothing was actually happening. I remember thinking, well, f**k it, I still wanna move. I don’t wanna be stagnant.

“My manager was like, ‘You should tease music. At least tease music and let people know you’re working, and maybe they will hear it and be interested.’ So that’s what started this whole thing. I said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna tease music and we’ll see where it goes.’

“Even the content I was creating, I made it in a way where I could do it myself anywhere. It didn’t need professional help or for it to be professionally shot. I didn’t need to pay anyone. I made it easy for myself because being independent or working in Ghana, or I guess anywhere else, if you want to collaborate or be seen, most of it is payola,” Moliy stated.

Source” Ghanaweb.com