sureteeboy:

Not a kobo. The only way record labels can make any money from your a song is if you actually paid before you can download that song. If you check music platforms like iTunes, Deezer, you get to pay for those songs, regardless of the mb you're still going to spend on downloading the songs.
But if you're visiting these free websites, the only set of people making money from your downloads is the network providers you bought mb from

they get paid on streaming platforms also infact they are lot of ways they monitize their songs these days

watch "empire" to learn more about music business.


singing like "Bob Marley" or "Michael Jackson" are different things entirely. the music business is the real deal, if you fail at it, you are gone!!!!!

Long post.

Any avid football follower can easily relate to this.

What use is an artist/player that can not make money for the label/club?

PHIPEX:
I know a book titled "Talent is not enough". There is a business side of entertainment, it's not enough to know how to sing same applies to footballers. Record labels are business people and profit is their aim not your well being except if your well being will bring more profit. Everyone must be selfish when signing a contract.

That's the reason players have agents.

Most of all these record label are vampires who are always ready to suck upcoming artist and just because those artist are curious they sign shady deals and bear the consequence at the end of the day...Take kizz Daniel as a case study.The part of the contract says he won't feature any artist outside the record label which is wrong but my guy japa Las Las.

I agree with somethings the op said and I also disagree with some... When it comes to promotion of songs it's only when the musicians is up and coming that's wen a lot of publicity is done, ones he/she breaks into the market they need just little publicity to promote the song perfect example are the likes of Wizkid, olamide and davido.... Even before the song is out they have started challenge, that's cos the musician is popular.

Secondly you talked about them recouping their money, what you don't understand is this most record label fight artist that are talented when they want to leave not because of the money spent but because that particular stream of income is going to close a perfect example is kiss Daniel... Today no artist signed by g worldwide can meet up to what he has done for them.
Thirdly I'll say on the part of the musicians they fail to read contract before they sign but I'll also say record label are been wicked when it comes to these contract. How can you say a musician shouldn't use a stage name because he/she is no longer on your label? It so bad to the extent that that career would die ones u decide to adopt another coz we already know u as one. Perfect example is kiss Daniel now kizz Daniel.

I'm not saying artist are saint but my point is this, in as much as we blame the artist we also have the right to blame the record label coz without an artist they don't exist and vice versa.... I rest my case

Morgan is a selfish ungrateful stingy and local brat... Why you nor meet your family members to promote you in the first place? You knee and beg to have a view of the light, they allow you to see the light you change am say na you get the light... All the good and nice video Morgan shots her kobo dey for any of them? She know whatbit takes to shoot those video and in Nigeria we know the quality of Jude video nor be for children... Dirty smelling mayD, If you grow with your parents they will teach you that the steps of 100 beings with 1 step... You don fly airplane once for your life if not for Jude and the P square... You refuse to take his contract how he come take affect your mosquito career? You thing you can do it on your own... How he come be now?...

[i]

Exmilitant:
I dey my own o when a guy approached and persuaded me to invest in the movie industry. He came with some guys he identified as marketer and director and location manager. After listening to the profit i would get if i put in certain amount. I was eventually convinced to financed the production.... if you see any movie titled, 'corrupt community' Being hawked in traffick thats my money gone. since november last year i no see money, i no see producers, i no see film.... Make dem dey hide o, no be portharcourt we dey.

Senior man your comment don mk me laugh tire. I b ph city based too.

Most record label preys on the naivety of upcoming artists, most artists know very little about contracts and this is to the record labels advantage. If for instance a player wants to sign for a new club we here them saying they are yet to agree on personal terms or have already agreed on personal terms. Why not advice artists to get lawyer to critically explain the terms of the contracts they are about to sign if you mean well for the client and want to do a fare deal with him. No its only the record label lawyers that's present to prey on the eagerness of the artists. For me they both share blames.Because one is selfish and the other is foolish

MrBrownJay1:


a record label is a biz like any other... who INVESTS in an artist career and try to recoup their investment and make a profit out of the artist's success. should artists now accept every nonsense that record labels throws at them?! ABSOLUTELY NOT!

this whole charade is trying to make it look like... if an artist succeeds, its the record labels fault, but if the artist fails, its the artist fault. lol!



most artist around the world get PAID each and every time their song is played on the radio (and not the way around) but, if in Nigeria a record label need to pay to have your song played on radio (while that same radio is paid by advertisers, ads etc) then A) you better get a better record label that believes in your music, B) you better do biz outside of Nigeria, but most importantly, C) if that is the way your record label expects to promote you, then you best find a better record label ASAP!



ARRANT NONSENSE!!!!
the artist is EVERYTHING dont get it twisted, thats your raw product, without an artist, a record label is NOTHING... a record label is just someone who see an artist's talent and decides to invest in that talent to enrich itself. how dare you are trying to make a record label look more important than the artist?!?!? if that person is just a bathroom singer, as you claim, then why would anyone invest in them?



educate yourself of the likes of Prince or independent artists who create their own label and invest in their own self. anybody can do what a record label does, you only need money, and there are many ignorant fools out there with money but absolutely NO SKILLS to manage artist, foolishly calling themselves "record label".



May d was producing/recording songs for that label without a contract... what happens to the benefits generated from these produced/recorded body of work (since there was no contracts)? where is the contract that stipulated that A) record label invested X amount of money that will be deducted from the above BS you mentioned and B) if there was no contract in place, how does everyone's share calculated?!

Cynthia Morgan own is even worse...A) where exactly was the "supposed" 40Mill invested in? B) how much money has been generated from the Vevo account that was hijacked from her til today? C) how much money has the record label already recuperated from all her shows/songs etc (before this saga started)? D) it seem the record label claims they invested 40M and that today she still owes them 40M ...really? so they made NO MONEY from Cynthia Morgan since day one?!?!?!? highly far fetched!



the above in bold is called "RUNNING A RECORD LABEL".... the rest written is deluded rubbish that certainly wasnt part of any contract, unless the unsigned contract of May D AND the contract of Cynthia clearly stipulated that every time they pop champagne for you in the clubs or that you guys go clubbing, the tab will be added (or deducted) from your cheques as "promotion and marketing"... same with feeding money or the empty BQ room that was provided for May D.



yes!!!! and they get handsomely rewarded for it!!! dont try to make these record labels look like charities! these are investments. sometimes it bare fruits and sometimes it doesnt.... just like any other investment in life.



any artist who signs such above contract is a DAMN FOOL! when the record label has recouped its invested Marketing/promotion/studio time money etc (example 5M) then the profit above this 5M, will be shared between the artist and the record label (depending on what was earlier signed 30/70 or 40/60 etc). saying that the record label must make 10M before an artist makes any profit is not only LUDICROUS, i do feel sorry for the Ediots who sign such mad deals! no wonder no good has ever come from the mentioned record label!



because NOBODY has seen the contract itself that all them crooks are talking about... there are many contract out there, and there are many record labels....why havent you ever heard an artist complain of Don Jazzy Mavin record? yet, this ONE record label has 3 different artist speak ill of them?!?!? there are record labels and record labels out there, know the difference!

Well said


You know Nigerians are used to rubbish

Pwhitelaw:
Most of all these record label are vampires who are always ready to suck upcoming artist and just because those artist are curious they sine shady deals and bear the consequence at the end of the day...Take kizz Daniel as a case study.The part of the contract says he won't feature any artist outside the record label which is wrong but my guy japa Las Las.

Well said

Most Nigerian record labels are slave camps run by people God will punish immensely

What happens there is just a microcosm of how the larger society in Nigeria is run.
Dog eat dog
Exploit
And scheme

like luscious Lyon did in "empire", the music industry has been hard wired with devils. if you don't want to loose your soul or don't have what it takes to dine with the devil, don't you dare venture into it.



music has gone beyond holding microphone and standing infront of audience. its those who listen to your content that will decide your fate and destination.

lawyer:
I was reading online recently about how Cynthia Morgan claimed Jude Okoye scammed her while she was under his Record Label and May D led credence to her complaints about the Label not giving him his dues and generally cheating him off the good life he was supposed to enjoy as an Artiste. A lot of people immediately sympathized with these Artistes and rained Insults on Jude Okoye and every other record label out there for cheating Artistes. Many Artistes these days have made it a habit to always come on social media to blame the Record Label for stiffing them but is that really the truth? Let's delve into what goes on behind the Music Industry and explain why one Artiste is very rich and famous and the other one famous but broke.

A lot of people are very ignorant about how the Music Industry works. Free Music is everywhere you look today. Everyone can download music for free online from “notjustok.com. , tooxclusive.com etc”. You can listen to free music on any radio station you tune into all over Nigeria. You can watch free music videos on over 20 Music Channels. You can stream free video on YouTube, Spotify, Sound Cloud etc. If you like, you can go to music blog pages and download new music everywhere but the first question you should ask is “WHO IS PAYING FOR ALL THIS FREE MUSIC YOU ARE ENJOYING”? The answer is the Record Label. not the Artiste.

There is nothing like free music on radio or free music on Soundcity or free music in Nite clubs or free music on blog pages. Everything is paid for and subsidized by the Record label to push the Artiste. Do you know how much a Record Label would pay a radio station for you to actually like a song? Most of the songs you hum or sing to daily in your bathroom, cars, office, gym, classroom, kitchen, your couch and finally on your bed has been paid for heavily by the record label. When you tune into your favourite radio station, you hear a song at least 10/ 15 times a day for 1 full week. Automatically this song becomes a hit because you have reluctantly accepted the song in your head from day 1 and by day 7, it's one of your all-time favourite songs.


Do you think it’s by magic that a song from nowhere automatically becomes the flavour of the month and one of your favourite tracks of all time? No. Millions of Naira has been paid to that radio station to promote that song heavily for you to like it by the Record label. The Artiste only performed the song in the studio but the Record Label has to invest millions of Naira to make that song performed by the Artiste a hit so that it can recoup the money back and pay the Artiste from the profits and royalties obtained from promoting the song.


Without the Record Label, the Artiste is nothing. There is no difference between you singing in the bathroom for free and your favourite Artiste without the backing and funds invested in the Artiste. No Artiste alive who invests in himself without the backing of the Record Label has ever made money or profit except foolish fame and we all know fame alone does not pay the bills. The Record Label everyone loves to demonizes when an Artiste runs to Social media to rant and rave about is the only source of their fame, money and lifestyle. The best an Artiste can do is produce his own songs and sell the CDs in traffic. Goodluck to that Artiste turning into Wizkid in traffic or playing songs in beer parlours!!!


Coming back to May D and Cynthia Morgan. The Record Label owned by Jude Okoye gave them a contract. Everything about the survival and success of them is in that Contract. What they expected was for the Record Label to turn into their Surrogate Sugar Daddies to dash them money to buy range rovers, live in Lekki, wear exotic clothes, travel first class to every country on the planet to perform in concerts, shoot million Naira music videos in South Africa, stay in 5-star hotels, pay for their limousines, food, take care of their extended family and crew and pump millions of Naira into their account for just singing a song which they consider as a hit.


Cynthia Morgan and May D did not pay over 700 radio stations all over Nigeria to play their song. They did not pay all the Music channel VJs to play their song, they did not pay over 200 bloggers to tweet and write good reviews for their songs, they did not contribute to the cost of shooting the music video from the accommodation, plane tickets, paying video vixens, paying the music director and the crew, scouting for location and wardrobe, transportation, feeding, clubbing and shopping money for themselves, their family and crew. They did not pay for the popping of champagnes in the club to boost their image, pay Djs in Nite clubs to play artistes songs and loads of payments that Cynthia Morgan and May D did not spend a dime on to push and market the Artiste and song. The second question you should ask is “WHO IS PAYING FOR ALL THIS LIFESTYLE AND MARKETING”? Answer The Record Label.


Nobody wants to know where the money is coming from to push this glamourous lifestyle. We all want to see the Artiste driving a lovely car with beautiful women around him wearing fabulous clothes but this comes at a very heavy price. Every dime spent on the Artiste to push this song must be accounted for and recouped before Artiste is going to see a dime. The record Label is not Father Christmas and does not give a rat-ass about the Artiste. It is only interested in the profits and business part. If Record Label spends N5Million on you, it expects nothing less than N10 Million before the Artiste can start seeing some money. You don’t expect the Record Label to spend all that money on the Artiste and end up running at a loss. The Record label must recoup the money spent on Artiste from sales of Cds, concert tickets, shows, endorsements and a host of other mediums to balance their books before Artiste makes 10 kobo. If the label does not make a profit because of limited concert sales, Cds sales or poor show receipts, Label is not bound to pay Artiste a profit. Any agreement Label and Artiste has whether it's 50/50/ or 70-30 must first be offset from the initial amount Label has spent to promote the Artiste. It's not rocket science. It's not wickedness. It’s just business. That’s why it’s called show business. Why would you spend N10Million on a stranger and allow that money to disappear because you love his voice or how she looks?


That’s why the Record Label ALWAYS signs a contract with Artiste to specify all these things. 90% of musicians don’t read these contracts and if they do, they hurriedly sign it because they are already dreaming of the immediate fame coming to them and money to be advanced to them to buy a car, rent a house, shoot videos, pay for their clothes, hotels and up-keep. To them, it’s as if they have hit the lottery but unknown to them, all these money given to them is just an advance that must be deducted before they start seeing 10kobo in their account.


Have you noticed no Artiste has come out to complain about a Record Label and point to the section in the contract that the Record Label has breached? Never. They know they have no case so they come to the court of public opinion to rant to gain sympathy for their carelessness, greed, ignorance and apathy. They would never employ a music lawyer to comb over the fine details of the contract. They would never sit down to be prudent to receive small money at first to reap millions later. They want to live the Cubana high chief life now and when it goes bust, they expect the Record Label to bail them out. It would never happen.


Rather the Record Label sues them to court and ALWAYS WINS because at the end of the day the truth would always come out. If Jude Okoye was to sue Cynthia Morgan and May D, I bet my house, Jude Okoye would win over and over again because everything is in the contract which they signed. Jude Okoye owes them nothing apart from what they agreed would be the sharing formula after deducting all that was spent on them previously. The Record Label is not Sinzu Money; neither is it a Sugar daddy. It's an alternative bank. What it gives the Artiste, it takes back double. It’s just part of the business and only savvy, smart and intelligent Artistes understand this game. It's not about putting the microphone on your mouth, it's about having the brains to understand the music business.

I completely agree with your views here.This is where the Grace of God matters.Talent is never enough ,you need the Grace of God to blow.

brymo fought with chocolate city,

wizkid left eme
oladips attacked his boss, reminisce
dbanj left mohits
terms and conditions always apply.

"If you want to hide anything from a black man put it black and white" . A business man who understands this concept would always win because the terms and conditions the clients have failed to read would always apply.

many like olamide, naira Marley, skiibii end up opening their own record label when they notice that their best interests are not the main issue.

also music as an art requires a lot of hardwork, research and literature research. if you are not well motivated and disciplined, it takes a toll on you to be living on dreams that one day you will later blow. some have died without blowing. fatai rolling dollars blew towards the end of his career.
some even borrow loans from bank to launch their first or debut album. if the launching goes southwards they are in deep shit.

thats why many of them end up depressed, in drugs or illegalities.

fake lives also kill most of them, because they usually deceive and get deceived by themselves and their fans.

millionaire on Instagram and zero naira in real life.

9ice was once asked "what do you think of the Nigerian music industry in the next ten years" and he replied "we don't have music industry in Nigeria, all we do have are artistes working and struggling hard on their own to survive.

Shaprara:
.

Alot of record label owners are frauds, they find upcoming artiste, give them a contract with no counsel involved, with heaven and earth promises, they naive ones sign, then the record label owners take them around to take money in from investors, the record label owners cashes out and live the artiste hanging with no promotion, the artiste is left to fend for him or herself.

stop being ignorant, if na so e easy go foot the bill, so u too can cash out. Bros to be popular or famous today is not easy. Atleast they still have fame. I went on the youwin business training, didnt get to win, but learnt so much abt building my biz and criteria for sourcing loans, which i did to start my business. If cynthia morgan isnt lazy, she for tweek the name like kiss to kizz daniel did, drop new hit songs, hustle for shows. But e wan only chop. If e easy to risk it and spend 5m, u ma for go start dey do am. Shior

YINKS89:
I agree with somethings the op said and I also disagree with some... When it comes to promotion of songs it's only when the musicians is up and coming that's wen a lot of publicity is done, ones he/she breaks into the market they need just little publicity to promote the song perfect example are the likes of Wizkid, olamide and davido.... Even before the song is out they have started challenge, that's cos the musician is popular.

Secondly you talked about them recouping their money, what you don't understand is this most record label fight artist that are talented when they want to leave not because of the money spent but because that particular stream of income is going to close a perfect example is kiss Daniel... Today no artist signed by g worldwide can meet up to what he has done for them.
Thirdly I'll say on the part of the musicians they fail to read contract before they sign but I'll also say record label are been wicked when it comes to these contract. How can you say a musician shouldn't use a stage name because he/she is no longer on your label? It so bad to the extent that that career would die ones u decide to adopt another coz we already know u as one. Perfect example is kiss Daniel now kizz Daniel.

I'm not saying artist are saint but my point is this, in as much as we blame the artist we also have the right to blame the record label coz without an artist they don't exist and vice versa.... I rest my case

All you said would've been perfect especially with your kiss daniel as key study..but it's just a '1' kiss Daniel in a hundred of upcoming signing....now these other upcoming signing that don't get to make it and are total loss for the management how many times do you get to hear management cry foul.,it's cause they know it's business....when gee worldwide signed kiss daniel.,they did sign other artists too...but today where are these artists.? That's why labels signs contracts that must favour then 70% over the artist....cause in 20 upcoming signing u will be blessed to get 1 good sign.,so how do u recoup for the other 19....you just looking at it as per artist but that's where you wrong....it's a collection cause wether how do you keep the label running knowing fully well that 20% of your upcoming signing won't blow.. it's business bro
Music business is a very risky business unless for those that use it in laundering their money.
Record label you hear most times have over 30 artist but you sometimes know just 1 or 2.,ask yourself how do dey pay the rest....cause there is a contract nd they have to fulfil it.

BiafranBushBoy:


Lol...

It goes to just MTN.

Nobody except MTN, Glo, airtel, makes money from your mb.

its a lie they also make their money from streaming even all those caller tunes you guys use..the truth is that most times this record labels milk you dry they make money from your album sales,concerts,shows,endorsement deals,tours,even interviews ...the case of vector when he was with ysg they were not doing enough anymore to push the guy forward anymore bobo day use him own money pay for video shoots ,bobo see chance sign deal with another USA record label and he signed it that’s how their saga started ..I won’t lie ysg also tried for him they gave him a house ,gave him cars also they didn’t allow him do any diss track for reminisce or Olamide back then when he was having beef with them the only time he got to reply their diss track was when he got featured by other artists..at the end of the day YSG collected the cars and apartment they gave him still took him to court for breaching the contract he signed with them ...he got arrested by them first he couldn’t even perform at shows or even record anything I think for a year or two bc of the court order but thank God for him now he’s doing great and also back on his feet ..

EmzyT:




I cannot can

mad o

Abagworo:


Read about the rapper Tech N9ne or more recently Chance The Rapper.

thank you ooo including phyno

also luck and fans true love also matters a lot.

musiliu aruna ishola released an album titled "soyoyo" or (correct me if I made a mistake) ,he didn't know that the album will blow and will be well received by the fans. it was even the album that brought him into limelight. he had been releasing albums previously that didn't blew like that one. so the promoter he was using then asked him how much he wanted, he just mentioned some millions less than 5million and a Benz veeboot. the promoter Gabe those things to him, after the album became a hit, and the promoter reaped times five of what he gave musiliu, he want back to the promoter and asked for more, he told him, "I worked for it by myself" but I heard they later settled it.


also 9ice and Id Cabasa on the album "gongo aso". 9ice said that the title of the album wasn't initially " gongo aso" . it was when the track became a hit and everyone was vining to it that they had to change the former title and destroy all the CD album covers they had initially printed.

musicians and record labels are like husbands and wives, you need to choose smart, and choose right because whichever you pick will damn rightly affect you for yhr rest of your life!

Nice write I have been educating upcoming Artists on this and the ones that listened have up their work and are doing pretty good

The OP is bias for INCLUDING MayD in is post, he chose to be smart n decided not to sign. MayD is not as foolish a Cynthia and the OP should desist from classifying him in that league.

Not signing might not have done is career no good but it ensured he wasn't ripped off like Cynthia.

Trailblazer1:
In this part of the world, we've mastered the art of absconding from our responsibilities and trying to blame the entire universe when we fail while exonerating ourselves of any wrong doing.

Every contract comes with terms and conditions.


Artists are not usually blindfolded when signing up contracts neither have there been any reports of artists signing contracts under duress.

Artists have a right to use legal representation to sign a contract, but they use paparazzi instead.

In fact, some contract signings are televised to put up a show.

Cynthia Morgan is a victim of her own foolishness.

All you wrote is a truckload of rubbish, I guess you know that already but still wanted to push your narrative to the fore.

There's no harm in being fair in a deal n from Jude's disposition one can tell he was never fair in his dealing with both Cynthia n MayD.

Jude never gave MayD a contract until after the colabo with Akon when he was raking in millions but still languishing on cartoon paper in his backyard. Thank God MayD was smart enough to ask for incentives which Jude found repulsive n the boy refused to sign any contract with him.

I suppose MayD must have learnt a thing or two from the Cynthia Morgan brohauha. The gamble in the industry is for producer to identity talent they can recoup their money from when invested upon. All your long tales is of no essence.

You are only out to polish Jude's image but nothing stop him from being fair in his dealings. Imagine the idiots just bringing a contract after MayD did the colabo with Akon not before O.

lawyer:

Totobulie:


I was reading with interest but got disappointed at the end. Oga there are a lot of record label out there having problems with their artists banky W comes to mind. Did you here what May D asked for? That's greed bro. As for Morgan, she should know that mariguana is not good for the brain.

and what did may D ask for

Viktoh68:
Morgan is a selfish ungrateful stingy and local brat... Why you nor meet your family members to promote you in the first place? You knee and beg to have a view of the light, they allow you to see the light you change am say na you get the light... All the good and nice video Morgan shots her kobo dey for any of them? She know whatbit takes to shoot those video and in Nigeria we know the quality of Jude video nor be for children... Dirty smelling mayD, If you grow with your parents they will teach you that the steps of 100 beings with 1 step... You don fly airplane once for your life if not for Jude and the P square... You refuse to take his contract how he come take affect your mosquito career? You thing you can do it on your own... How he come be now?...

Rubbish post

In her case It's obvious the record label is to be blamed

Viktoh68:
Morgan is a selfish ungrateful stingy and local brat... Why you nor meet your family members to promote you in the first place? You knee and beg to have a view of the light, they allow you to see the light you change am say na you get the light... All the good and nice video Morgan shots her kobo dey for any of them? She know whatbit takes to shoot those video and in Nigeria we know the quality of Jude video nor be for children... Dirty smelling mayD, If you grow with your parents they will teach you that the steps of 100 beings with 1 step... You don fly airplane once for your life if not for Jude and the P square... You refuse to take his contract how he come take affect your mosquito career? You thing you can do it on your own... How he come be now?...

The thing pepper u as MayD wasn't as foolish as Cynthia ba ?! In life u lose some u win some but that doesn't stop u from being fair.

The greedy artists made it difficult for upcoming like me to get a record label deal but God's time is the best I'll be there.
It's your boy Xpol , watch out for my next singles Kuruna and killing myself

Heistman:
Record label go spend 5# on u .. hoping to realize 5 million....

At some point den go don make 500k over your head but still continue to dey pay u d 2kobo u signed in the deal from day 1 cos of your naivety and desperacy...

If u con para scatter all..


Record label go rush to media say u dey owe Dem 4.5 m....ever wonder why all d hell den dey promise artist wey vex Comot bfr d end of hin contract no dey happen laslas and most times den go settle outside of court

Then you don't sign any deal and wait till uour papa gie you money na.

Abi?

Is it Record Labels fault your family can't support your music career?

Or is it that yiu cannot afford a good Lawyer to negotiate a better deal for yourself?

The biggest problem here is greed of artists and ignorance.