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Joe Mettle accused of sampling a gospel song without proper credit
U.S.-based Ghanaian gospel musician Fletcher Narh has accused gospel musician Joe Mettle of sampling his song without waiting for approval from him.
According to Fletcher Narh, Joe Mettle’s 2015 worship song, titled “Meyi Wa’ye”, is actually his breakthrough song and was released 15 years ago.
He said he composed the song around 2006 and released it in 2007 but Joe Mettle sampled it without going through the due copyright process.
“I sang Meyi W’aye about 15 years ago,” he told Neat FM on Tuesday. “I’m the only one that understands the history behind the song and how God gave the song. But you know how Ghanaians behave, people do not do the right thing.”
Fletcher Narh disclosed that Joe Mettle contacted him to sample the song but both didn’t agree on a term before the latter released it.
He called me years ago and told me he had done all the research and he loves the song and that he wanted to do [sample] it. I said ‘that’s okay. I have a lot of songs but we have to do it the right way’. He even wanted to know how much I was going to charge for it. I need to pray about it and all that but by the time I realised, he had released it,” he narrated.
He said he couldn’t take on Joe Mettle because the Ghanaian system doesn’t empower copyright owners to take on offenders.
He said he was excited to see Joe Mettle sample his song but should have been given some credit.
“I believe that the truth is the truth and nothing can outlive the truth. I was in America when people sent me videos and it was exciting but I feel that I deserved some credit,” he added.
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SOURCE: PULSE.COM.GH
