Last, last thing, last thing. That's that's an extra, very important question, Sam. I spice a Lotto. Whose side are you on? Yo, what's up? And welcome to episode 63 of the 30% Podcast. I go by Alpha Mefina and I go by my amazing Co host.
So, uh huh, I go away, Sam. He goes by Sam and you can catch us at the 30% Pod on Insta, on X, on Threads, on Tiktok, and on LinkedIn. You can listen to this podcast, or you can stream it on YouTube, on Spotify, on Apple Podcast, on Google Podcast, and on Anchor Podcast. Sam, what's up? What's going oh and have had the most interesting day. The most the most interesting day. Man woke up in the morning morning morning was school. I I was part of the judicial
system today. It was interesting seeing how things happen like your lawyers. I I give props to lawyers man. They have like certain speak they have to speak like they have certain ways they talk and and instead of saying like I want to ask for something that say like I pray for for a I'm just like why why are you guys talking like this? But that was cool. It was a unique, interesting experience I've never been to before my laptop crashed.
That was fun and I learnt that I have to pay a lot of money for it. So that's always. That's always great when you realize that you have to pay money for something you didn't have to, you didn't plan for. Yeah, that you weren't planning for. Yeah, and then I sent bro. I sent money. And this I don't know. Has it ever happened to you? I sent money to the wrong person. And not a small amount of money too, OK? It was a substance. An amount to make your heart drop. Has that ever happened?
Actually, it hasn't happened. It hasn't happened to me. Alpham, you're not so lucky. Alpham, you're not. You're not Kenyan at all, If you. It hasn't happened. It genuinely hasn't happened to me. Hey yo, listen, shout out to I'm not going to say his name. Shout out to Mr. Joseph. Let's just put it out. Shout out to Mr. Joseph. Because Mr. Joseph, First off, he calmed me down. He was like, bro, relax, I'm not going to do anything with your
money. But you see, The funny thing is, I've been told that before and then I've been blocked. And then they and. Then they just Skype my money. So shout out to Mr. Joseph, man, he he held me down, man. Like he said, he said bro, because it was imagine just learning that you have to pay a lot of money for something and then you go and get money to give to the people and then it's all gone. So yeah, but that was cool and then I rushed it's, I mean it's been interesting.
The interesting week. Yeah, it was an interesting week. We'll get into why I feel like the week was interesting. The studio session I found was super fun. But we'll get into that as part of your week. So how was yours, man? My week was OK if you are part of the judicial process. Today I was part of the Is it legislative? No. The immigrative? Immigrative. What's? What's it called? I don't know. Yeah. Anyway, all I know is doing government things is just so long.
It's so long. But anyway. It's the absolute worst. It's the absolute worst. It's usually just so long, but aside from that, I'm good. I'm had an interesting week. Very interesting because we were on TV, bro. On TV, man. I forgot about that. We were on. TV man KVC had us on the Y. 24 No No Y 25425. Four. Look at me. Look what I'm doing. See. Look, look. Look what I'm doing. Y254 my 5. Sorry. But yeah, yeah, shout out to shout out to the guys at Y254 for having us on that. Was that?
Was an interesting experience. It was, yeah, never been on. TV before it was same. Never been on TV before And I must say it was not. It was it was not bad. So shout out to Stephanie, an amazing host I I think. Struggle to pronounce our names, but shout out to her, yeah. That's everyone your last name and and my all my names. Are all your names? Yeah, we found out that AFAM is first name AFAM second name EFUNA which. Is that's what we found out. We definitely found out My first
name is split into two. Yeah, but it was good. It was a good conversation. We talked to the the the main point was what's next for the Kenyan industry. So Sam and AFAM gave their best, their best guess, their best informed guess on what's next. So it was really good and it's really good. And you guys can still find the interview up. It's up on YouTube at the Y254 channel, so all you need to type is Y254 and you will see our lovely faces. Our lovely faces.
I was wearing all black. I was, I was, I was doing too much in terms of the dressing. Next time I'm just, I'm going to take it easy, man. I was doing too. Much going to be more colourful but yeah had the had the interview and then after that I I had a studio session with with cookies. So that was fun. And yeah man that's essentially how my my yeah, that's how my week panned out you know made a bunch of music as usual Yeah that was dope. That's kind of how.
I passed, I passed by the studio and it ended in, ended in after, sorry, enemy freestyle. I don't want to, I don't want to know freestyle in the school, the freestyle. In part of school, you were singing all the wrestling theme songs word for word. Paint me like this. Don't paint me like this, bro. You and Ronald shout out to Ronald to shout out Ronald, but you guys are going. Crazy. These guys are even talking about there was an alternate version.
I'm like, fine, what are you guys talking about? It was it was crazy. I was. I had a great time, man, watching. Was making me look like the geek that I actually AM. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But yeah, Sam, before we even start, I have something fun for you. Kind. Of fun. I want to give you in in the in the in, in the spirit of the Super Bowl having happened, me and Sam being Nigerian, we're not going to talk about the other, you know, things that happens.
Oh, Nigeria. Nigeria, my country. Oh gosh. Moving past that really fast, really quickly. So in light of the Super Bowl I want to give you, let's give. South Africa. Their props. Let's give them a closer round of applause, man. All right, never mind. That was just me clapping. South Africa. No, no, I was also clapping. No, I was. I thought we sold. Anyway, listen. Listen, let's go. Shout out to everybody and Ivory Coast and just the whole Afghan. Moving along.
Moving to do yeah, I want to give you 3 fun facts about Asher. Are you ready? Oh gosh, this is not where I thought this was going. But all right, I don't know if I want to learn about Asher. Let's go. First of all, I cannot. I cannot guarantee that these facts are 100% facts, but they do come from our website calledfacts.net. So. That definitely makes it true. Oh, you know, fact.net. They always report the. Truth. Here's one. They're beacon of truth in our society for.
Sure it's not. Here's one that I'm reading. Here's one that I'm So here's one that I'm reading that contrary to popular belief, Asha's surname is actually Terry. Raymond is his middle name, which he adopted as his stage. Name Asha Terry doesn't really have the ring to it, does it? It it really doesn't, it doesn't have the same ring as Asha Raymond. Asha. Raymond. Terry. OK. Oh gosh, are we hitting another man's name? Let's see, Let's see. There are a bunch of.
There are a bunch of. There are a bunch of. There are a bunch of them here. And some of them are very mid. Let's see, let's see, let's see, let's see. Asha has a residency in Las Vegas. I mean, we know. We know that famously because of the. Yeah, didn't you? Didn't the stories. Yeah, I think, I don't know if it's, I think it ended, but like, so he can't pick it up after the Super. He can, he can, he probably will. But yeah, I think that ended.
Oh look at this one. Asha is considered a sex symbol. Thank you fox.net for pointing that out. Why? Why did you pick that one? That's the question. Why is that the one you went to? You said three. Now you added an extra random one in there, and that was the extra random one. OK. I'm adding an extra. I'm adding a last one. I'm not. I'm adding a last one. Asha is potentially contributing to the, to the, to the downpours of two relationships.
So, you know, famously, like he did the whole thing, his routine with Kiki Palmer and that whole thing became controversial. And you know, Gafla bin Vu, Kiki Palmer and her, her ex aren't together. And then now there's the whole thing. He, the routine he had, this is stunning, very dull. And everybody's talking about it and everyone is saying like if there were Swiss beats, they would be heated. So listen, Usher. Fun facts if you're listening to this.
I love your music anyway. You can't cop, please. After turning into Nairobi gossip club here, you can't. Cop, please bro, you can't. What? It's the talk of the town, the. Talk of the town, he says. Let's continue. Do you think people care that the what are they called the the Kansas Chiefs war? How about you talk about about something more interesting? Did you watch the performance? Talking about his love life Actually's performance. I saw, I just saw snippets.
I saw snippets. What do you think of it? Didn't watch the full. It's been like mixed, mixed, mixed reactions, I think. Did you? If you watched it like, please give us no. Because I didn't watch it, but then I saw, I saw I've seen some of the songs, like some of the performances. He was, he was. I mean it was it was, it was. It's one of the better ones that we've seen. But then there are some notes that were being missed. I know, I know what is mixed. I know what this mixed reviews
over is his album. I hear the album wasn't hitting like you should have. Yeah, the album. The album wasn't, it wasn't OK. It wasn't what people were expecting. But people are saying that they have to warm, warm, warm up to it. A lot of people actually. It's, it's, it's it's almost like he's trying to appease the younger audience, but he has a very classic sound. So like that's creating like a weird thing thing. And he's been trying to do that
for the past couple of albums. I think the last one also he tried to like do like the more younger youthful Bob, but he's still an old. So anyway, shout out to Usher, man. I'm sure the Super Bowl thing was a huge thing, the preparation that has to go into that. My goodness. What do you mean? It's months. I'm guessing it's months and months and months and months of the routine and doing the same thing and it must just be tiring. Very tiring.
Yeah. So Sam, Anyway, yeah, so I think Asha, let me see, let me see here, let me see here. Actually, I was trying to see who Asha is currently signed to, and I think he is affiliated with. Oh, he's one of the Gamma people. Shout out to the people who who are messing with Gamma, but I think previously he's been affiliated with RCA and stuff
like that. But Speaking of labels and artists being in labels, there was some really dope or well, not dope but interesting news that came out this week. So did you have a chance? Well, I didn't really watch the whole snippet, but there was, AI mean the whole interview. But there was a snippet that kind of piqued my curiosity. It was Nikita Kerring kind of talking about her situation, her label situation, and kind of how that's affected her in the past year. Did you have a chance to see
that? I did not. No, unfortunately I will. You wait, no, you did not see the whole interview. But you saw the clip, came across, came across, came across. OK. OK. Yeah, it was, yes. Interesting, interesting insight. It was. It was. It was an interesting insect and I appreciate Nikita for sharing. So guys, we're going to play the clip right here and then we'll come back and talk about what we just listened to. When I tell you like. Ready for the tea? Feel thy cup.
The first thing I'll say, even if I say when I was, when someone warns you about something, just just listen, Bien, about two years ago, probably doesn't even remember, he told me. Nikita, just stay independent. Just trust me, Nikita, just stay independent. Then I got this opportunity that I knew was life changing and and had a team. And I was like, my team is going to go through all these documents and seal it from start
to end. But I was told something you can't put everything in a contract, doesn't matter. There's always a loophole. There's always something. You can't put everything in a contract. And that's how my year went. Complete depression, you know, knowing that a decision you made, thinking that you're big enough, smart enough to make it, you made it and and it was a wrong choice and and things could go wrong and they could go down and there's no one else to blame and there's no one else
who can help you. My mum did everything she could, my manager did everything they could, yeah and and then my friends were not there. No one could understand. So yeah, that's it. And I'm not that person to go online and start venting. It was my problem. I made a choice when I was sober enough to make it report. You saw. Oh damn. Yeah, that was make jokes. So what you've heard is Nikita on I forgot to mention on the Mic Check podcast.
Shout out to the people at the Mic Check Podcast Check. They always have very interesting podcasts. And they doctor very interesting so shout out to them always yeah are giving us good content to listen to great content. So the so so the so the gist is that she's kind of been Mia because of just like her situation on the label, bro. She kind of you know used like a word like you know almost like being depressed ETC. And and you know wondering where
has Nikita been. And so one thing that resonated with me is how she said that BN kind of a while ago gave her some advice and and and BN was like, yo, don't just stay independent if you can. Don't sign to one of these labels. And she said she wishes that you know when somebody tells you something you should listen and stuff like that. And I mean, my heart kind of goes out to Nikita because I brah, you know, you know how labels can be and how, you know, there are some horror stories
with stories labeled. For sure, For sure, For sure. Yeah. Yeah. With the whole Nikita thing. I mean it's it's interesting. And I've I've, I've had this question myself because she dropped X. When did she drop X? She dropped X and then she went. Silent like 21? Yeah, that was like. 22 She dropped X and then she went silent for like a couple of months and then she came out and and I guess put out a new EP. So I was that's not usually how
it goes. Usually, like when you have a hot single, you try and stay on, follow it up. Yeah, you stay on people like that. But then she just went silent. So I guess this is part of what I was playing, but. There was the album, though. There was there was the album, right?
No. Yeah, yeah, well yeah that's one thing but that also in the in terms of like like because from there she got you know she got like the looks she got she was on with Nadeska she was she like she got like really big looks and then she all she she almost just vanished. From side of me. And but if and if a label is like working you and all that business, they're going to keep you in front of everyone's faces. So that's kind of what I mean. Like she just kind of it.
Almost like she kind of disappeared. We didn't. Feel like we didn't feel like her presence was being like like consciously pushed in front of us, which is what labels usually do. OK, so I mean seeing, seeing Nikita Kering's sentiments about the high experience at the label that she's signed to. And again, just want to say listen, thank you to Nikita for sharing her experiences. Sam, I wanted to ask the question in 2020, four 2024 years after Jesus died, what is
the pro? Oh what are the pros and cons? D it is, yeah. What are the pros and cons to sign? Was labeled today. Shout out to Jesus man, because because bro Sam like literally like a lot of people have that sentiment that staying independent is actually beneficial. And I wanted to ask you bro, maybe we should come up with a pros. And you know what I think? I honestly think, I think it's it's, it's, it's, it's.
I think that too, because there's a lot of, there's a lot of people who still feel like being signed to a label. Is it like, oh, I just want to get signed. I just want to get signed. And then of course now, and there's there's obviously a movement within the artist's artist world where people are more like no independence. Independence is what's sort of the the move. Is what's popping. Yeah. OK. So Sam, pros and cons, I can say one, I can say one we can, we can, we can go back-to-back,
back-to-back. So one of them, and this is very. Obvious to bring Drake. Finances always, always, bro. Anyway, finances listen. It's been a big it's been a it's been a big week for Drake news. Finances, finances, finances, finances, finances. OK, yeah, Finances, bro. Obviously you're at a label. You have access to a far bigger budget than you would if a label is a big bank by yourself. Is what it is it? Is really a bank. It's a big bank. So that gives you loans. Yeah, so.
Exactly. Oh, yeah. Gives you loans. So, I mean, yeah, so they have a lot of money and then they allocate, they have the grace to give you or rather they have the, what do you call it, It's their job. It's their job to give you the money to be able to facilitate your career in many different ways. Once they sign you, I suppose. Yeah, yeah, once. So there there's that there's an interest in order to provide you with finances so they can get
the finances back. So that's like one of the huge, or rather one it's one of the. That's the business model, right. I'm saying that's essentially yes, yes, yes. Yes, it's a business model. It's, it's it's it's artistic loans is what it is. It's they're giving you loan for Arch and then you have to give them the money back and you have to make more in it. So that's that's the common misconception.
They're not just giving you an advance and then you're just chilling, like you're going to have to give them that money back. So you better make good news. Yeah. OK. So that's one. What else is what is a pro? So, so do you think? Labels are established, right? And which means that they'll have better connections, they'll have a bigger reach, they'll have more networks, they'll have stuff like that. They'll have more bargaining part, like leverage. They'll have, yeah.
More access to to, to different things, more access to other labels, access to artists that have access to the technical side with studios A and Rs. Access to all of this stuff, playlist curators, the industry, access to Spotify, access to everyone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they have. Access to our our data. Yes, they do. They do. So that's that's like and that's that's really a huge one and that's often that's what stops or because as a as an independent artist you're just
by yourself. You don't. You can't call the the vice president of of Sony Music to get whoever to jump on your track. You know, just. Rope and console can you just Sorry I. Was yeah. So. So hey. Lucien Grange, man. Just please bro, put me on. Your Lucien Grange is just. His name is, so his name is. Just like it's such a. It's such a villainy name, but it's so cool. Lucian Green, but. It's. So villainy, actually, now that you pointed out Lucian Green, he's just there in his office
saying. Yeah, I feel like he needs. I feel like he needs a scar in Botox. Bro, he does. He needs a scar and he needs to walk with a cane. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he does. Anyway, So, yeah, so back to the topic at hand. So bigger, bigger reach, bigger label. I mean bigger access to to what you need as an artist to be more out there I guess is is what we're trying to say. OK. So another.
So for me, I would say another pro to being in a label is that you just have access to far better resources than the average artist. Yeah, for sure. Because like you have access to top tier producers, top tier engineers, Yeah, top tier like you can go to a good studio because it's paid for. Although it's that money is coming from your advanced. Well, yeah, you're paying for it. You're paying for it. But then. You're paying for it, but still
the money is kind of there. So so anyway like you have access to like you have access to like like you want to shoot videos like they have the networks with all these. To call the best guys they can talk to. Like hard to work, like just your whole rollout would look way more meticulous because like everything the quality should be higher because of just like the resources that you know, a label
is able to put together. And I think that's that's actually a valid reason to unassign to a label, because you just look cleaner. Yeah, for sure. The output just looks way way better because of the better resources that you have access to. Definitely and and and as as as a as an extension some of these people have been they're usually access people who have been doing things like this like established.
So they know like this person is going to deliver and so you, you, you, you tend to get to that professionalism that comes along with with that access. Not that it's not seen in independent, but then if a label sends an e-mail, it's it's better than Sam waking up in the morning and sending it from his Gmail. Like, if you see a UMG e-mail and you see a Sam Gmail, you probably take the UMG one more seriously than just me. The UMG one.
Yeah. So, but, so another thing would be so like with the first one started labels the banks and they need to get their money back. So they are very efficient and they, they do collection and they do distribution and collection very well. OK. So they're very well. They're very material because they're not going to allow one shilling to, they're not going to let it go like that.
OK. So, yeah, so just to say there's better distribution, they have, the labels are in, of course, we know the labels are in bed with Tidal, they're embed with Spotify, they're embed with Apple Music, they're embed with
all of these people. So they are able in terms of their distribution, they're able to and all the other ones, it's not just this big BIG45 whatever, they're they're able to facilitate and and handle that because they know they've done their research and they have relationships with this
distribution channels. And so it also makes the collection better and they have again they're also linked to the collection, what do you call them organization boards, whatever they are and and and they tend the labels have priority. I I think that's a fact. They have priority when it comes to collection of royalties and distribution and all that stuff, right.
A label versus an independent, and not just an independent, but then maybe even an independent label like a small, just DIY label would not have as much power in terms of distribution and collection as as a Sony or RCA or whatever. Yeah. Or one of their SUBSID subsidiaries. Yeah, OK. So I would say another pro of being in a label, is this just dedicated departments for shipped? Yeah, for example, like a label will have a dedicated legal department for. Example, right?
And that's super important. Yeah, all the, Yeah, that'll just handle all the contractual situations that a label is bound to encounter. Yeah, it's going to have a dedicated A&R department. It's going to have a dedicated publicity and marketing department. It's going to have a dedicated promotions department, dedicated publishing, even merchandising. There's a dedicated department that's just does that solely for merchandising, touring and and
everything. Like they they may have a department that handles touring and all that type of stuff, doing shows and and performances and everything. So like, there's just dedicated departments for everything and that that kind of like eases the load on the artist because as an independent you have to be. Yeah, as an independent you have to be all. Of those they won't allow you by. Yourself. They won't allow you to make so many decisions anyway.
But yeah you you you tend to, you tend you have you have people you can bounce things off and of course these are people who have done these things for a long time. So there's better you have more knowledge and and just it's it's better for you. So Speaking of marketing, right. So marketing is a huge one. Marketing is like one of the major ones. We recently we've been seeing I Spice everywhere. Like she was standing next to Taylor Swift. Bro, she is.
She has been put in front of. Wearing, wearing, wearing opium chain. Do you know what opium is? I isn't, Isn't it what has what has killed a lot of people? It is, but also Opium is playable. Carty is label carry. On Wow. OK, well, yeah, that's that's marketing still. I'm sure there's a reason for that. So anyway, that's to say like there's people who are that their job in terms of of of like what they're supposed to do is is figure out how to get Ice Spice in front of everyone.
Sam, like, I'm sorry to interrupt, but if you think that I Spice is just with Taylor Swift of the strength of them being friends, yes, them being friends is part of it. But let me tell you, it's also a Look, this is something that somebody sat down in and had a meeting about and said it. Wouldn't it be great if I Spice was with Taylor? Swift in this thing and let's. Make it happen true. You know what I mean? Yeah.
And they're probably preparing for her for whatever project she's planning to drop or whatever single she's planning to drop. Like it's all works and the teams behind that and it's marketing. So marketing is like one of that can get you out as an artist, that can get you an artist, a band, a producer, whatever it is, right? But we say artists to encompass all of it. Yeah, I'm sorry. I keep on. Interrupting you.
But like do you know when I found out when I found out that like even in like when you see artists like at games or like you see them Oh, this artist was at the front row. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it's all, it's all that's part of the marketing budget, not, not not to bring. Up Taylor Swift again. But a whole relationship with Travis Kelsey is that might be marketing. That's. That's marketing. That's marketing. That's marketing.
Right there. Yeah so so that's that's it's really important part of of an artist's because without marketing you can't you can't put your product out there, you can't put yourself out there right. So it's really important and labels have done this time and time they hire the best of the best of the best of the best to do this. So it's that's that's a big a big a big plus when it comes to signing with the leader and so I guess just. In to encompass everything.
It's just more professional. Yeah. There's just more professional support. It's people who have done this thing for years, have created like systems, have seen what works and what doesn't work. So it's just very professional and very, very like meticulous, right? Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, you have that. You have that support. You have. You have, you have you have a let's say you have everything you need to be able to succeed as an artist. Yeah. Yeah that that's that's OK and
and many others. These are not the only ones there are there are others that that are hidden in there. But then these are like major categories. So some. Cons What are like some cons of being signed to a label? Oh boy. In 2020. 4 Three 60s I'll start. Three 60s are cons. OK. Yeah, start. Oh, OK, we can start. With that, we can start with that. How, what? How would you articulate that? Oh no, man, I. I don't know where it is. OK you know what Let's we'll
we'll get into that. You you start. You go. OK, Sir you go ahead as I. OK. So I think. I think I. Think the Major. Like one major thing is there's just so many more stakeholders with the music or involved in the music. Everyone And the Mama label. Yeah. Like so. So essentially what that means is you have less ownership of your music. Yeah. Because your music of the. The label is going to take a percentage. Yeah, the like everybody's going to be taking percentages here,
right, left and centre. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Because listen, if a label is able to scale your music to the level where even you making 10% off of your music is you making a ton of money, then maybe that that makes a little bit sense for you. But all I'm saying is yeah, like your your, the percentage of what you are making is going to be significant essentially.
Yeah, so, so. I mean in the pros we mentioned like like dedicated departments and teams like these guys have to get paid and you your, your, your art is the product. So you're the product. Yeah, you. Are the product, so you're. Not you're not just going to be signed to a label and say, OK, I'm taking everything for myself. No, some of the people who are helping out nature, that's just the nature of how it is.
And we've seen, we've seen, we've seen like big artists, like massive artists, Kanye and them like with leaked contracts and he owned his, he's telling us that he has what, 10% or even less than than? And we are thinking because you as an artist, you as an artist of his stature, he should be at least having like a lot of money. Now that's not more ownership. Nope. Nope. Nope, even.
The the whole. Rumor about bun, but Bunny also being in like a 9010 type of thing and you're like Bad Bunny. But listen, Bad Bunny does. His numbers are ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, his numbers. Are ridiculous, but still I. Mean. He'd rather another. Yeah. So. Another con would be creative control. So you don't have as much you, you just don't have as much.
Again, because you're a product, you're you're a product and and the labels job is the the labels signed you to be able to maximize your, maximize your, your art, maximize your so that they can make the hey, we don't like it, but it's a fact. Whenever you get signed to a label, it's not no longer a creative game it's now a money game. So they're going to yeah they're going to make whatever decisions they feel is best. This is the single you should start. Your project with yeah by 4
exactly. And this is when you're going to release it and this is how it's going to sound or no, I know you really liked that writer on it and everything like that, but we don't want that. This is what we're trying to
achieve with this single. So we're going to go with this writer and this producer and we're going to mix it in this way and this will be the album art and your whole idea and conception of of whatever you're planning to do is thrown out the window, but you can't do anything about it because your name is at the dotted line. So that's that's a really big
one. And that's one of the ones that artists really fight with the most is creative control, because creativity, creativity is art, right. And so when that that is taken away from them, it's like, OK, so exactly what am I doing here? Yeah. And and, and so there's a point that actually goes hand in hand that it's slightly different though. So I feel like artists have a lack of autonomy to do what they
please with their music. So this differs with creative control in the sense that OK, like for example, you see what happened with UMG recently. They decided because of the talks that they've been, that broke down with with them and Tiktok, they decided to pull down their music. But you see, this is not a decision that each and every ex can send. An e-mail and say I don't want to be part of this. Can you make my music up? Nah. Sorry bro.
So now you you. So now you lose control over over your music in that sense, because I'm sure there's a ton of UMG artists who would love their music to still be on Tiktok, if not all. But it's not, yeah. So you kind of lose a little bit of control over the product itself because. UNG has such a. Huge stake over the major label will have such a huge stake in you do I just come to think. About you, you lose control over, you lose, you just lose control.
Generally. You lose control over your own art and you lose control over like even the business decisions that you're making that you need to make like there's just. So that's I guess that's it. So, so with the, with the, with the, and this is the next point, So with the, with, with major labels, right Again, and I don't want to keep saying this, but then it's a money game. So they're going to maximize profits is what they're here to do.
Which would mean unfortunately that you as an artist if you are not giving them what they need in terms of returns compared to what they signed you for, then your project is going to be shelved. Your whole ideas. And if they're going to be shelved, there's not much they won't invest as much in you as as as you would want them to because it's just not it's just not what they're they're they're
here to match my profits. So things like artist development, things like spending spending years to to curate the perfect album. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's it's it's more about, OK, what do we need? How what do we need to be able to maximize our profits, maximize this stuff everything, even reach marketing. It's all it's all geared to be able to get their money back. They both are big a big banks and they need their money back.
So they're not going to play games with with oh and cuddle you as an artist that Oh no. OK let's just take some more time and figure out what you want to do. Maybe take a few years off go to the Bahamas. Nah, it's over for you. You're on the shelf. That's it done. So that's that's that's terrible. And and and and. Usually that's what is demoralizing.
But yeah, listen and and with that I guess we also have to mention bad contracts because a lot of these labels, man, they'll they'll have sneaky language within their contracts. Have you read? Have you read have? You read some contracts. Have you seen how they try and disguise the simplest of things in like something you can say in two sentences has 5 pages of just wording. Legal Mumbo jumbo is what it is and they do it on purpose and.
And it's just all, it's just all like it's slimy honestly. So like we we've seen like like Sam was mentioning at the top of the con segment, like you look at 360 contracts where the artist is where everything that the artist is involved with, whether the artist decides to start a brand that's outside the music, whatever the label is going to take a percentage. Oh, no. Yeah. That's because they. Feel because the label because
the label. Will feel like, you know, because we have given you this massive opportunity. We put you on this huge pedestal. We've given you this massive reach. We have owners of all the things that you're invested in. And so such things are only beneficial to the artists who make tons of money. But if you're a small artist and you're signing a 360, like essentially you just end up being really, really screwed over.
I'm using those contracts which were like they'll put it sneakily, like, you know, you have to, you have to release 2 full length projects which they decide. What that is, and it's not a standard, then yes. Then then they can decide what a project is. They can say the project that you released last year was actually a mix tape and so really you have to really still do two more projects and and this and that and all that stuff is so like this. This is very surface level
stuff. There's so many different like small things they put in this contracts that like they have clauses that might say like even if you terminate the contract will still be liable to get like percentages from your music for five years, 10 years after you the the whole, the whole deal is done. Things like that, which is so easy to you can only earn you. Can only earn from your music after it has done a specific amount of numbers and blah blah
blah. And now what that does is if if they decide that they have not gotten the return they want in the first few months of the album release, they're going to stop pushing it. And then you don't get your money back and then you're on the shelf. Just the game. Can get nasty. It can get nasty, yeah. And then there's the the. Whole thing about like the in the contract, like how should you recoup your your your advance and all that type of
stuff. And then they even do things where like they'll put it in your contract that if you release album A right? But it doesn't, it fails to recoup the the amount of investment that they put into into Album A, right? They can still take your your money that you make from album B, which comes out like two years later or a year later to still recoup.
Yeah, for album A and still you still need to recoup for Album B. So therefore you end up making zero money like from none really because you're all your money is just going into recoup. So they'll put. That's how you see a lot of artists broke outside because you think that when you sign to a label like you have money, especially, you're given what, $1,000,000 in advance and then a couple of a year later you've seen this artist is super broke
fam that money is not and. And even on, it's. Not for you. That money is alone. Yeah, on your point. Even so I was I I think it was. It was no, both of them. So S1 and Hit Boy 2 producers that I really look up to, they are talking about how they were signed to a label for a specific amount of songs, right. So you have like 20 credits or songs now. The layman will think, oh, this is really easy. They just need to produce 20 songs and they're done. So they got to the end of the the 20.
I don't know it was if it was one of them or there's another producer talking about it. He got to the end of the 20 and the label tells him that he has done like only three or four. Why? And he's. Wondering. What I've I've fulfilled my So now what happened was within the contract. And this is like the standard, right? So when you produce a song as a producer, you get the amount you get. Now if other people are are included in that, your percentage of ownership of that
song reduces, right. So instead of him getting 50% credit where he, if he just needs to do 40 songs and he's done, he got 2%, he got 2% and it's not necessarily him, him he had produced the track. The label decided, you know what, we need this to be better. So the three and other producers and other people like that. And so that reduces drastically
his amount. So now instead of having to produce 40 songs to get out of his label, he has to do like 203 hundred and years and years and years. And that's how you just get buried. It's it's it's nasty. It's nasty. It's nasty. But so yeah, so another one I I guess if just probably two more, another one would be. So with the labels comes politics. These are establishments, bro. These are establishments that have a lot of power. A lot of them are publicly
traded. There's a lot of money being exchanged, billions and billions and billions and billions and
billions of dollars. So there's bound to be pulled the political game where like, for example, if artist A is under whatever label and artist B is under this other label and this label for some reason are fighting with that other label and you feel like you want to get a collaboration with the other label, the labels that are fighting, the other label, the opposite labels, flagship artist, and you think that you're just going to finesse that while they're fighting.
Nope. They're going to find ways to keep you from that. So politics is just it's nasty, but it's just it's part of the it's part of politics. With the labels and the platforms, like if the label might be beefing with YouTube, like even the UMG true example, again, that's also politics. And you just get wrapped up in things that you're not really part of, but because you're in the label, unfortunately, you know, you're wrapped up in it.
So yeah, politics. And then I guess for me, this one is more of a, it's just like a combination of everything, of all the the the cons, I mean, and it's something that, you know, a lot of artists have expressed and I think Nikita was kind of expressing you can take a toll on your mental health. It's, it's very stressful. There's a lot of pressure.
There are a lot of deliverables and you're trying to really navigate this landscape where you're, you're you're looking at the contracts, you're potentially being finesse. You don't have any creative control. Sure, being in a label and being lucky enough to be like a star, like that's huge because like you'll always be good. Like if you're in a label and you're Justin Bieber, whatever
you're, you're living well. But if you're in a label and you're a smaller artist and you're really trying, it can be. It gets very stressful, It gets very stressful and it. Gets and and. They they do go through a lot of mental health like problems. Yeah, it's, it's it's crazy. It's. Crazy and we've seen a lot of, and that's a huge point take down like they were doing well. Their art was great. It was very fresh.
It was cool And then they got signed to a label and afterwards you just, it's just like they changed and it's a lot of it's it can, it can get very stressful, man. It can get very stressful. It can. It can be a very. Mentally crushing thing to be in a label. So yeah, man, for me personally, if you're in the music industry and you're starting out, I would, I would, I would make all the labels angry. Make all the labels angry? Go ahead. Yeah, I'd really advise. I'd really.
Advise you to stay independent. I think labels are really, really built for the mega. Like the big stars, like the really really big stars. Those are the real people who are able to benefit properly from being in a label. If you're a smaller artist, it could help, but like, you could also gain a lot from being independent. You know, you could, you could really work yourself to a point.
Now if your goals are to scale to the size of the Justin Bieber's or whatever, I can tell you now you're not going to do that. Being independent, It's impossible. It's, it's really impossible. You know, like even all these guys who say, oh, I'm independent, like whatever, all my master, then you'll just look, you'll see, you'll look at that thing and it'll be like, oh that. But they have a distribution deal with with Sony or they have a publisher to get whatever.
So would you get to that height independent? Like like there's. A whole thing? A couple of. Years back we chanced the rapper, saying that oh, he won a Grammy when he was independent. I don't know if he was completely independent on that one. Exactly. Yeah, it's who's publishing you. And so they. Have really being really being really independent is a myth,
like, especially at that level. But like I was just saying, I think it's more advisable to stay independent for as long as you possibly can, For as long and yeah, and when you. Sign deals. Sign them for the shortest amount of time or shortest amount of projects. Like just do it like that exactly. Don't say. Oh, I'm going to wait 5. Years so that these guys can really work on me, bro. After one year, they're done with you. If you're not, if you're not performing, if you can do
limited. If you can do limited deals, if you can do non exclusive deals, yeah. If you can do deals that are project by project basis, yeah, like bro, those are the best things. Like the the the best thing for you to do as an artist is to Yeah, yeah, the best thing to do as an artist is to try and minimize your engagement with these people as much as you possibly can. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Yeah, and actually both.
Ways. I think even them they like it like they like not exactly so that, so that. They don't have to deal with you for a long time. They're like, right, we've gotten what we want out of this guy. We've ringed him dry. Look at him now. He's depressed. He's tired, he's sad. His art isn't even that good. Get rid of him and then you can leave and and go get your colour back. So that's that's that's thanks Sam for that. Glowing assessment. You're welcome. What in terms?
Of man, what else was on? In terms of other news, I'll. Just really run through these. I want to give a big congratulations to Fenagitu because she was named Spotify Equal Africa Ambassador for February. That's a big deal. Shout out to Monica Kimoli because she puts together these type of things on Spotify. So essentially what happens is every month there's a new ambassador for the Eco Africa program. And essentially by so this I'm just reading.
By providing equal opportunities for female artists, the industry becomes more inclusive, ensuring a broader range of perspectives and narratives. This not only challenges stereotypes, but also contributes to the preservation of diverse cultural heritage. Additionally, visible representation of successful female musicians serves as inspiration for aspiring talents breaking down barriers and encouraging the next generation of artists.
So I feel like what happens as well is like Spotify will also really involve themselves in the marketing of this artist for the month. They'll put them on their playlist, they'll really highlight them, they'll showcase them and just kind of put them on a pedestal show light to their art and everything. And I think that's really dope that they're doing this. So shout out to Fenagito, I hope this is a good look for her. And yeah, she's been around for
a long time. To read so, so this is cool. Yeah, it said. It said like. It on the article it says she's been doing this for 13 years and I'm like, wow, time flies. Yeah, that's. That's many years. So shout out to her. Shout out to Fena. All right, man. What else was in the news? I'm. I'm, I'm, I'm Dundo. Dundo. Speaking of the. Labels we should have. We should have sucked already into this. Dundo is not really a label. No, it's not what is? What is? It's a music.
It's a music platform. It's a streaming platform. Oh, it's a. Music platform makes sense, but Mudundo. They they've announced or released the news that they are going to pay artists over $1.5 million in royalties. I will not try and convert that to Shillings. So yeah, so the I've got the the let me just read so Head of music and Licensing Wanjiku Koi Nangi. I hope I got that right.
Said the implementation of artists of its Artist Royalty Payment program would benefit about 156,000 artists over the said period. Which said period? Is that actually did they say 20? 2023-2024. So just the the breakdown is interesting. OK so so this is the breakdown of the total amount payable to the content providers. So the the artists and whoever's making the content. Kenya is going to get 4044% with 56,000 active artists, Tanzania 19% with 15,200. Nigeria is stud with 17% as
25,000 artists. South Africa is fourth with 7% like this, Nigeria winning something there. South Africa is 7th for with 7500 active artist, Uganda 6th and Ghana 6th with 19,000 and 6900 respectively. So that's really cool. That's really cool. And I like, I like that they've broken down those numbers to sort of give a perspective of of the market share of the different countries and different regions.
As Ludo looks ahead. The artist royalty payment program remains a beacon beacon of hope for musicians across Africa. I'm doing those. I promise you I can read, I'm doing those commitments to fair compensation, strategic partnerships and innovative approaches paints a promising picture of the future of the music industry on the entire continent of Africa. So shout out to M Dundo man, shout out to M duno, that's, that's shout. Shout out to them, yeah.
Also, I also read, oh, sorry, go ahead. No, no, this way. Go ahead, go ahead. No, I was just going to say I also. Read an article saying that they hit 30.8 monthly active users, which puts them on track to their goal of reaching 50 million monthly active users by the end of 2025. I also think they're doing very innovative stuff with them, partnering with the telecom companies such as Safaricom, Vodafone in Tanzania and all that type of stuff.
Like we know. I think that's the best way to break into this niche of ours in East Africa and Africa in general because we really, really, we're very, very dominated by these telecom companies and they have a lot of like reach and they already have the systems in place. So I think Madundo is doing a lot of innovative stuff that is going to really, really come in clutch. Yeah. So let's watch and see what they do. I hope that's why I'm sure they have big plans. I'm sure they have big, big
plans. Shout out to them, yeah. Man, that's all I had. That's all I had in terms of news. That was interesting to me, man. Yeah, me. Too. So do you want to talk about new music? Let's do that. Why not if? Not did you. I'll, I'll, I'll toss to you first. Did you listen? Oh, you want me to start first? OK. So, So what did I listen to in music? OK, so there was 2 songs that have had a common theme of kind of addressing the, you know, the recent femicide that's been
happening in the country. A Saudi soul released a song called By the River with a very powerful statement that was really targeted at men and asking us like, why are we cheating our women like this? Why are you the way you are? It's not funny. It's not funny. But no, but like, yeah, I mean. Shout out to Sarti so for for
prioritizing that. And then also Saru released a song with Joe Face where it was it was called The Girl Power Freestyle and she also speaks powerfully about like the whole femicide stuff and you know, so shout out to artists. This goes back to our conversation about artists and activism, and I respect artists using their platform to actually spread positive messages such as these. Another song I listened to was Para Panda by Savara father Moen Waqadi Nali. That song had a bunch of
interesting lines. I don't know if it was Scar or whoever it was. And that song said some very interesting things. Sabuniya Rojo by Itzhaba and Hart. The band also came out. Let's see, oh more. Oh bro. I feel like the the SE Soul boys were very active because, you know, Para Panda had Savara and then Fancy Fingers released a song with Xenia Manasse all over me. How did you feel about it? It was cool. It was cool. It was. Interesting. I was.
I was, I was, yeah. I wasn't sure how those two are going to mix, but it was it was a good song. I mean it was it was cool. Shout out to them. Shout out to them for releasing brah. Fancy Fingers is very very I think of all the artists like in from SE Sole, I think he's he's OK. BN is very consistent but Fancy Fingers is #2 in terms of consistency. But they are releasing music. Maybe. Except Chima. We've not seen a lot of Chima. He did release an EP.
Yeah, but maybe Fancy Fingers releases. Yeah, yeah, he's done a lot. He's. Done a lot, Mali. Safi by Nadia, Mukami Okelo Max and Prince Inder. There was butterflies, I think I heard. That song and I, that's one of the songs we are going to keep hearing for the next year and a half. I promise you. It's that same that Mali Safi, it's that that it's that, it's the formula, it's the the guitars with the drill drums let's you're going to hear that forever now.
Yeah, forever. Yeah. Oh, there was an. Interesting one there was Let It Play by a Ugandan artist called Sente and our very own Maya Amolo. I thought that was interesting and dope to listen to. There was Chachisha by Kalamoto and Boutros. Boutros releases music like every week at this point and I think the last OK there was, there was oh, I want to shout out revamp our VMP from Espresso. He released a song s s. It's an instrumental, so shout out to him and then I think the
last one that I really listened to properly was. There. Was Oh yeah Yule by Lee Boy. So shout out to Lee Boy as well from keeping cool. Let's go see let's go more shout out, shout out to. Frederick Mula and Umuda sounds provoking the guys over there with past, the future. I really enjoyed this one, man. Frederick Mula is a rapper and if there's one thing I enjoy, I enjoy Swahili. I think it's Swahili. He's his Tanzanian, but he he does a straight here, so I
really enjoyed that rap, man. It's just super cool. I love listening to that. Let's see, Sophie Anzal, I don't know if you mentioned that. I didn't even see that. Yeah, there is a song with. All balloons pop. That's the name of the band. All balloons pop. Or the artist or the producer called. I do not say that Bati Bati. So shout out, shout to her. She's still on the grind. Let me see, man. Let me see, Let me see, Let me see, Let me see, let me see, let me see. I don't know.
Yo, listen, I I there's more music. I I so one thing. One, there's a lot of music, yeah. There's, there's, there's a lot. The song I think that I was very impressed by was was was dopamine. I bro, I love rap, man. Like, I just like it when people get on a track and rap well And the beat let me get the producer's name right. The beat was so dopamine Le Mario. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he leaves A. Project I think it's A5 song project. We know dopamine. He hangs out a lot with
butchers, right. So yeah it was he's. I think he's part he's part of. ADF he's part of Yeah, Yeah, Fire. So. So he's he's an artist in his own right. Yeah. So it's produced by Le Mario. The song is so dope. I mean, intro, but there's five songs on the project. I encourage you to check it out. This beat was just done. Well, man, it's a really good beat. This is dope rapping. There's an energy about it. So I think we should play that. So this is dope. Would you say the song was dope?
I mean, oh man. You know what, I'm going to let that slide just just because just just because of your current state, I let that slide. So this is dope. I mean with dope. I mean in brackets intro. Give me that dope, yeah. Yeah, man, that was dope. I mean, some good rap. Good, good, aggressive rap music. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like Le Mario. Le Mario. That's the only part of the song that that, that. That that got to you right. This is the producer tag. I just like the tag.
I like. I like produce. I like the art of producer tags, but listen. I think they're getting obnoxious now. They're getting obnoxious. I've had I've had ballads like just pianos and strings. The beginning of this song you just hear you know you know the female one that female the female tag that guys that all the producers love doing the the weird. It's some array on the. Beat. I hate the. Some just close the. Mood off like it's.
Alright, to leave your tag off. Some things I don't want to hear, just strings and violins and here it goes. He's a farm in the middle of. That, oh, a farm. Make keep. On making those hits and then they always talk like that. They keep on making those hits. Yeah, in that. Weird, soft whisper. It's just no, that's not the vibe. It's not the vibe. Anyway, Yeah, we need to. We need to we need to cut. I'm waiting for that. For the era of tags to end. I doubt it all, guys.
I. Unlike Sam, I'm not waiting for the era of tags to end, because I love tags waiting for this episode to end. But guys, shout out to you guys for always sticking to us. Man, like I said, oh, we recently just hit 1000. Oh yay, shout out to us. On Instagram. Thank you to you guys. Shout out to you guys for following from the ground up is what we're doing. Here, from the ground up. Really. Really. Really. Really. Appreciate it. I think. Yeah. We're not buying followers here.
But like you know, thank you guys so much for for, for following and everything. We really, really really appreciate it. Oh man this this. Sorry. I know it's the end of the podcast. But two things I want to say about no, but like are you. Are you? Are you are you. How do you feel about the news that came out about Kanye West potentially touring. Oh, I'm there I'm. There I I'm there. You don't even have to. Well, I'm 90% there. It depends because what do you mean 90?
I'm 90%. 100 Bro. In. My bro Kanye West in Kenya is going to be. That's going to be crazy. But that show is. Going to be so, Sam, it's going to. Be We need to figure out how to get him in the studio, bro. Like, yo, I didn't figure out. Oh man, just to sit there and like the antics studio. Yeah, you need to start the. Antics now so that when he. Comes he already knows that there's a there's a madman called Sam and then he can
invite me to the studio farm. Being in the studio with Kanye West would be like it will be. It'll be top notch. It'll be top. It would be. It would be a sight to see last, last. Thing last thing that's that's an extra very important question, Sam. I spice a Lotto. Whose side are you on? All right, All right. Thank you guys for. Thank you guys for listening to the podcast. OK, listen. Let me break it down for you bro.
Listen, I spice I love you man, but like latter is too like latter has to be. But that wasn't like much of A. This, this. There weren't too many disses in there. It was like a very commercial distress. The 2nd. Verse the second verse like she actually directly waiting for isis spices. Oh, I'm not waiting for it. I someone isis spices. Ice spices, ice spices. I listen. I love you both. I love both of them. I love both of them so much. I'm just, I'm even upset. I'm physically upset that
they're fighting. That's that's the siblings are fighting. The group chat is is in disarray. Are you in the I spice and latter group chat? I mean maybe the discord all. Right. Well, thank you guys for listening. We appreciate, we appreciate every. We appreciate every one of you. Thank you. Yes. I want to finish with a quote that I found.
Actually, I'm going to end this on a high, and this is just an interesting quote I found by Mr. Wolfgang Amadeus or Amadeus or Amadeus Mozart. And he says the music is not in the notes but in the silence between. That's something. That I've really learnt. Producing music like I I've actually like peeped that it's the silence. That the silence is what gives like the the drums bops like you know that the silences you add
is that's what adds the bounce. And bro, there's just so much like, but it's just deeper than even what I'm seeing. So anyway I just wanted to leave you guys with that quote because I think it's really dope. But yeah, Sam, sorry. I really appreciate this little quotes that you're bringing to the podcast. I I really appreciate them. I honestly do. Yeah. What else, man? I've said, I've said thank you guys for listening five times at this point. This is it at this point. Guys, listen, Bye.
Let's see you guys on episode 64. Man, shout out to your. Yeah. Peace.