Generational Gap among Ghanaian Musicians: Is Technology a Blessing or a Curse?

Music can touch hearts and has been a fabric in both traditional and work-life of most Africans. Music appeals to virtually the full range of human emotions. Music in Ghana has a long past, but short history. Ghana has three tier generations as far as music is concerned when viewed from focus and organization. However, the disparity between the past and present generation rest on technology, partitioning musicians into digital future and non-digital past. Using a semi-structured interview guide, some musicians were purposively engaged in an in-depth interview to ferret out their experiences as far as the adoption of digital entrepreneurship is concrned as well as some psycho-social challenges it presents. The study unearthed a reverse mentorship collaboration, adjustment challenges, and technological know and do-how skills as a major gap between the music industry`s generations. Whiles the voice of the present and the next generation of musicians views technology as a blessing, the past generation sees it as a risk to their retirement preparation and adjustability. The study thus recommends a helthy effort of collaboration spearheaded by relevant stakeholders to bridge the gap between the old and new generation of musicians.

Keywords: Digital entrepreneurship, music, mentorship, technology, retirement preparation, psycho-social wellbeing, Ghana