‘Collabo’ controversy Top musicians exploiting us, younger artistes cry out
- It’s industry practice, senior artistes defend
A new level of exploitation is now rocking the Nigerian music scene. While a top musician features a colleague without money exchanging hands, the reverse is the case for up-and-coming musicians engaging top artistes, who pay through the nose to engage the ‘big fishes’. OLUSHOLA RICKETTS, who spoke with some victims, reports
After working with music producer, Blaq Jersey, for a while, Akinboyewa Emmanuel, aka Yuppy, told him he would like to feature Jaywon in a song. Blaq Jersey produced Jaywon’s biggest song, ‘Odun Yi.’ The producer then told the up-and-coming act that he would need to pay some amount of money for that to happen, which he did in 2012.
Some months later, after the song, ‘Ragabobo,’ had enjoyed some massive airplay, he thought of shooting a video to complement the audio. But Yuppy was shocked when Jaywon asked him to pay N300, 000 to take part in the video production.
Yuppy told The Point, “When I told him I wanted to feature Jaywon and I needed his help, he collected N50, 000 from me. I did not know what he discussed with Jaywon. But when I wanted to shoot a video for the song, Jaywon said I should bring N300, 000 for appearance fee. There was no way I could get such money; I really had to run around before I could pay the producer N50, 000. I begged him, reached out to him through his good friends but he insisted that was what he wanted.
“To cut the long story short, I didn’t shoot the video of ‘Ragabobo.’ I am 100 per cent certain that if I had done the video of the song, it would have shot me to the limelight because it was well accepted. I could not shoot the video without him because it did not make sense to me.”
He stressed that certain people had told him that such practice was common with Jaywon but he did not believe it until it happened to him. “He knew I was still struggling and I did not have the money. Oritse Femi did the same thing to my friend; he asked for N500, 000 to feature in his video. Before then, my friend had already paid him for the audio production.
“But we have some artistes who do not make demands. I know of Skales for one. He came for the video shoot of DJ Baddo and waited patiently for a while before he left. 9ice also makes demands too, but it is reasonable and it depends on your relationship with him. The crazy part is that they go for musical videos, they do not feature them, they do not show love to up-and-coming.”
When The Point contacted Jaywon, he said he did not do anything wrong. According to him, if somebody is not important or have a stake, you will not want to have the person on your song.
“The truth is that, you are using the person’s name to sell your brand. It is just normal; it is right and it does not happen in Nigerian alone. I understand that sometime, artistes overdo it by asking for outrageous figures.
“If I had done 100 collaborations in my life, they have probably paid me for just 10. I even choose songs by myself. If I hear the song and I like it, I could walk up to the singer. But if you tell some of them that the song is poor, they would insist you jump on it. And if I tell you I do not like a song and you said I must jump on it, then you must pay,” he defended.
Jaywon insisted that collaboration is supposed to be mutual but some artistes do not want to understand. He had been called many times by artistes who wanted to know how much he was charging even when he didn’t ask them.
“Someone had called me before and told me that they wanted to feature me in a song and I said I didn’t like it. Next thing I heard – how much does Kennis Music want? So, do you expect me to reject such money?
“I count myself as lucky. Even when I was coming up, people were paying me to feature in their songs. I am not trying to sound proud. While I was coming up, Sound Sultan jumped on my song without paying him a dime because he liked it. 2baba also allowed me to jump on a song with him. Then, I did not even have any money to pay an artiste to start with. I came to Lagos without a family or anyone. But with the help of God and hard work, I am where I am today.”
Few years ago, when Wizkid came out to say he charged N10 million for musical collaborations, people did not take it seriously. He made this revelation when an upcoming singer, Saeon, took to social media to call him out.
Saeon made it known that, despite paying Wizkid N1.5 million to feature in her song, he did not promote it online or even retweet it. Wizkid replied her that it was not part of the deal and without him, she wouldn’t have had a hit song.
In the case of Kadicious, who declined to mention the name of the person involved, he gave one of the top producers some money to make two songs for him. When the producer was dragging things, he left him to face other things. By the time he came back some days later, the producer said he would have to pay more money. He had already paid 85 per cent of the agreed fee.
He explained, “I have given him some money for two productions but when he was unserious with my job and I needed to do others things, I left him. When I came back some weeks later, he told me that I would have to pay afresh. He knew how much I worked to gather the money together. I repair computers at Ikeja, Lagos; I do that by the side because I don’t have sponsors. Yet, the producer has decided to frustrate me.”
Narrating his encounter with Oritse Femi to our correspondent, a struggling singer who pleaded for anonymity said that when he approached the musician to feature in his song two years ago, he wanted N1.7 million.
“I met Oritse Femi in September 2015 and told him about my new song I wanted to drop in October. I told him I would love to feature him in the song and he asked me to freestyle. He said it was a cool song. I was happy because he is a guy I like so much and I like his style of music too. So the next morning I called, the number went through and I guess the guy that picked the call was his PA. I told him how I met Oritse Femi and all we discussed; he just went straight to the point – can you pay N1.7 million?”
Davido is one of the few Nigerian superstars who do not make m o n e t a r y demands for collaborations. But it could be argued that the reason he does not care about appearance fee is because he was born with a sliver spoon. The father of two, however, said that his love for music will not allow him to do such.
“I do not charge for collabos, and I don’t think I have in the past. The truth is, I love music and I just do it out of the love. So, I do it for free.” Ice Prince had come out openly also to say that he does not believe in collecting money to be featured in a song. He stated, “I’ve never collected a kobo to do a collabo with any artiste. If the song is dope, send it to me and I’ll work on it.”
At as 2013, Olamide’s manager said he would not feature in any up-and-coming artiste’s song for less than N1 million. Fast-forward 2013 to now, the figure would have increased hugely. But Nigerian producer, Bejanmi Spellz, made a case for the artistes who insist on appearance fees, noting that there is nothing wrong in that as it is internationally accepted.
According to the popular producer, the reason American rapper, Drake, did not feature in Wizkid’s new video, ‘Come Closer,’ was because he did not meet up with Drake’s demands. He stated, “I am not on anyone side, I am not a singer. Did you see Wizkid’s new video with Drake? Do you know there was an appearance fee attached to it? Do you know that it did not come through and that was why Drake did not appear?”
He is of the opinion that the time used to come to the studio to do the job could be used for other lucrative things. He added that some top artistes may choose to wave it because they love the song or have a personal relationship with the person in question. But business wise, they have the right to collect appearance fees.
“If the up-and-coming artiste does not have money, why can’t he do a single? It is not necessary he features a top musician. If he wants a top artiste in his video, he should be able to appreciate him because time is money. How about if he has a show the same day he is shooting the video? Don’t forget that these big artistes worked hard to build their brands. A-list cannot do that to an A-list artiste because they both have a large fan base. But in a relationship that one artiste is helping you, you have to pay for the service. You pay for the audio and video.”
For Olu Kode, another emerging musician, it is not surprising that top artistes collect charges because ‘nothing goes for nothing in Nigeria.’ He said most of them passed through the same thing when they were struggling to make a name too.
“I know someone who had paid Damy Krane N100, 000 before and someone who paid Timaya N300, 000. The money they collect varies, depending on your negotiation and relationship with them. Also, they use the money to scare people away, especially when they do not want to work with you.”
One thing is certain – up-andcoming acts wish established musicians show them more sympathy and love. It is generally believed that featuring a known artiste is an easy way of gaining the public’s attention. In Nigeria today, most cases, people listen to names. This explains why it appears that anything touched by the like of Davido, Olamide, Wizkid, P-Square, 2baba, among others, is gold. At times, with due respect, those songs may not be appreciated by the public if the singers are nobody.
