Story: Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria || Sanatu Zambang
Northern music has come a long way and we need to appreciate how far we have come as an industry. During the early days of the industry, musicians use to go all the way to Accra to record a song and at the end of the day, the record does not belong to the artistes.
The journey of the recording of the song came with some risks involved like road accidents. Some of them had to sleep at the market or sell scraps in the big city just to fend for themselves till they finish recording the songs before they can go back home.
At the end of such struggles, the song does not belong to the artistes but the producers. The producers enjoy the royalties and make more money at the expense of the artistes. Even today, the old producers are still selling CDs of old musicians but are not given them the share of the profit.
Apart from the production and ownership of music, the promotion was another issue for artistes because we did not have a variety of media to promote their work. For instance, a radio stations to play the song.
The gatekeepers thus the radio presenters chose who they wanted to promote and who they thought did not deserve airplay. This phenomenon somehow supresses the talent of upcoming artistes while at the same put artistes on their toes to churn out great and timeless music.
Another issue that artistes faced and are still facing is payment for their labour. Artistes are been denied payment when entertainment pundits who should know better use them for their programs.
Presenters or entertainment pundits usually blackmail artistes into performing free for them saying they are putting them on a bigger platform to promote their career in music. An artist who demands to be paid for his or her labor is targeted by these gatekeepers. These gatekeepers start a smear campaign against the artistes, saying the artiste is greedy and loves money.
Two artistes that come to mind in this current generation when it comes to the smear campaign are Fancy Gadam and Maccasio. They have been targeted by these gatekeepers just because they demand to be paid for their labour and talent. Meanwhile these same gatekeepers will bring southern artistes and pay them for their labour but would not do same for the northern artistes. These gatekeepers feel that artistes are indebted to them for the rise in their career.
The need to demand money came as a result of new media. According. George Kliff, could perform with the same attire on different platforms back in the day. But with the rise of social media and fans taking pictures to upload, they cannot get away with it. These same presenters who will seat on the radio to criticize them for using one attire for multiple shows are the same people who will not pay them to be able to get attire to perform.
‘’A time came we said even if you will not pay us but please take care of our costume and that one too is a problem. You want me to come and perform free for you and there is camera all over taking shots. You cannot wear it again on any platform. These same people will discuss you on Saturday how you are performed with old costume.’’
George Kliff
While Jamal Bamba has asked event organizers to add artistes to their bills when they are preparing their budget.
’’ What is even hurtful is that they are not the people removing physical cash. There is an investor. So, once you are making a budget and you are inflating figures for your own gains try to make provision for the struggling artists. But at the end of the day, you want to add the little the artistes are going to gain to yours. Why?’’
Jamal Bamba
Now the story is different, upcoming artistes can stay in the comfort of their rooms, record a song, and do distribution with the help of new technology. Though with the advent of digital platforms, some say radio will not be relevant in the promotion of music but others believe otherwise due to the diverse nature of the fans they have.
Now with the rise of technology, there is a power shift. This power shift has given back the power to artistes. They now control the production and own their record. Producers do not have ownership of the record again and all proceeds go to artists. George Kliff elaborates more on the power shift.
‘’Now presenters do not have the power like back in the day but they do not know. Why are they not organizing programs again? The stadium is still there. They should go ahead and organize and bring the artistes. When they bring artiste from south to come and perform, they treat the northern artistes who are there to support as flies.’’
George Kliff
Still, on the power shift, Fanta Face saysThey say they will not play northern artistes’ songs on the radio again because they promoted them and the artistes do not respect them again.
They should be mindful of that. If they stop playing the artistes song on the radio, people are going to stop listening to the radio but the artistes have their following on social media. They can create online radio and the fans can come and listen to his/her music. The artiste can turn to a presenter and says what they want to say’’
Jamal Bamba
When it comes to promotion, there are a lot of options for them. They can seat at the comfort of their homes and distribute their music using digital platforms.
These digital platforms have given artistes the opportunity to be heard across the world without having to travel around to promote their songs.
