10/07/2014
Diamond Platinum
Diamond
Bongo’s finest Diamond Platinum, who is arguably the highest paid artiste in the region, in a recent interview with Pulse, revealed that he charges a whooping Sh800,000 for a collabo with any interested artiste.
With an estimated monthly earnings of Sh1.8million, minus other monies he might be earning from merchandise and products endorsement, the Nataka Kulewa hit marker argues that his music career has been through a lot of hurdles, thus his high collabo fees. He says he has invested a lot of time and money to get his showbiz career to the heights he is enjoying now and reasons that such efforts should be paid for.
“For me to collabo with any artist, it depends on a number of things. My personal relationship with them matters. I don’t charge musicians who are my close friends,” he told Pulse.
“I would not charge Ogopa singer Avril for a collabo, for example. However for any others artistes out there, it is a standard fee of US$ 10,000, non-negotiable,” he added.
Anto Neosoul
Anto
In an interview with Pulse, the talented neo-soul singer Anto Neosoul said in the hit song Sari Sari, a collabo he did with the gospel singer DK Kwenye Beat, he pocketed Sh250,000 for the collabo.
“The amount was agreed after a mutual agreement between me and DK. It is only in Kenya that people get shocked when they hear artistes charge a collabo fee which is widely accepted in the international entertainment scene,” Anto Neosoul said.
However Anto Neosoul says that before he collabos with anyone, he must ascertain that the artiste is good and would add value in his musical career.
Then, the two artistes later sit down to discuss on how to split the royalties recorded on a spilt sheet. For instance, in his song and DK Kwenye Beat he says he owns 40 per cent of the earnings.
DNA
For a collabo with the Maswali ya Polisi singer DNA, an artiste must be loaded with Sh400,000, according to his manager Refigah.
“Since DNA released the Maswali ya Polisi and Fimbo ya Pili we have been receiving requests from artistes across the region who want to collabo with him because of his stature,” Refigah, who is also Grandpa Records CEO told Pulse.
“Recently, a female Tanzania singer willing to pay for a return ticket for two, US$ 5,000 plus other allowances approached us for a collabo with DNA. However, after we listened to her music, we refused to accept the deal because her work did not meet our standards,” narrates Refigah.
Refigah argues that collabo fees is a popular practice in most established entertainment scenes, citing artistes such as the Nigerian superstar D’Banj who is believed to have paid millions for Snoop Lion to appear in his song Blame It On The Money.
“We insist on collabo fees for all our artistes for the main reason that we do not want to dilute the brand our artistes have established over the years,” adds Refigah.
Kidiskidiz
As for the artistes interested in pursuing a collabo with the Mombasa singer Kidis, they must be ready to part with US$2,000 (Sh180,000) for each collabo.
According to Kamua Leo hit maker’s manager, since Kidis released the Kamua Leo remix a few months ago, they have received requests from a number of artistes from across the country, who seek to collabo with him. Therefore to maintain his stature in the showbiz scene they charge Sh180,000 for every collabo.
“Anyone wishing to collabo with Kidis should be ready to part with this amount if indeed they are serious they want our artiste to add value to their music career,” says Refigah.
W***y Paul
The recently feted Groove Male Artiste of The Year W***y Paul, now charges Sh100,000 for artistes seeking a collabo with him.willy paul
However the young talent says that he has channeled the fees paid to him as a collabo to his foundation, You Never Know, which seeks to nurture talent in children from the slums and streets.
“I have had many artistes who want to collabo with me and are ready to pay this amount. I have had to turn down some because for me it is not about the money but about singing prowess of the artiste,” W***y Paul told Pulse.
W***y Paul also posits that the artistes interested in collabos with him should also be prepared to pay for the studio fees and video expenses.
After all that is done, they would also sit down and discuss how to spilt the royalties.
Khaligraph Jones
The 23-year-old freestyle rapper says that he charges Sh20,000 for a collabo.
However, he also points out that before he shares a booth with any artiste, he has to affirm that the quality of the song is perfect and that the collabo will be beneficial to him.
Rabbit
Rabbit aka Kaka Sungura the Swahili Shakespeare lyricist says he charges a range of Sh50,000 to Sh80,000 — to only established artistes.
kaka-sungura1“I hardly charge collabo fees to upcoming artistes. This is because I know how difficult it is to find a bearing in this industry,” says Rabbit.
Rabbit urges upcoming artistes to stop depending on collabos with established artistes to make it in the entertainment industry saying in his debut song Jam na Kam he featured a little known rapper, Ordinary, after which they both became popular.
Although he does not charge upcoming artistes collabo fees, Rabbit says they should be prepared to meet the music recording and video shoot expenses as well as a royalty share.
Jaguarjag
The flamboyant Kipepeo singer disagrees with the artistes charging collabo fees, terming it as blackmail and a major derailment to growth in the local music industry.
“If I would have been charged a collabo fee by singer Shakii in my debut songs Furaha and Utaweza Kweli I might not have been where I am today,” argues Jaguar.
According to Jaguar established artistes should have the goodwill to collabo with upcoming artistes, as it is the only way that we will able to steer the music industry to a remarkable growth.
“I judge an artiste’s potential based on their ingenuity and if I like their work I not only agree to collabo with them but also help them out in studio and the recording fees,” Jaguar told Pulse.
Amani
The songstress says that talent shouldn’t be all about money and that it is only fair that established artistes help nurture upcoming talent by not charging high collabo fees that discourage these artistes to pursue their talents.
Octopizzo
“I don’t have a collabo fee. However, the artistes who am supposed to collabo with must be ready to cater for all the expenses including a quality sound and video. From the collabo I should also be assured that I would gather new fans,” Octopizzo told Pulse.
The talented rapper also says he often collabos with artistes who pursue a different genre of music because he wants to curve a niche for myself in their audience.
adapted from StandardMedia
