From Alec Van Gelder of the International Policy Network, a link to a post on the destruction of the Ghanian music industry through failure to protect property rights.

Alec emails:

Really, it’s just baffling that activists still claim property rights are crippling “developing” economies. In essence, the government-supported copyright office has turned into a body to supports piracy. It’s quite remarkable that they’ve been able to calculate the music industry contributes 4-5% towards Ghanaian GDP – surely this number is pulled out of thin air. It’s likely impossible to make a calculation when so much of what transpires in the creative economy in Ghana and other poor countries takes place in the informal economy – mostly through ad-hoc live performance, I would think. Without property rights and a business environment that supports the free formation of contract, why would you invest anything towards the production, distribution and marketing of music?