I find that when record labels reach out to artists in Cameroon, everything gets talked about except the most important thing which is the music. I wrote about Pascal’s deal with Strange Kings and the events that followed, concluding that Pascal was in very bad hands and was himself in some sort of delusion. A couple of months passed and what I predicted finally happened. Mic Monsta and Kreef had a similar dynamic that was bound to lead to what it led to.
In Pascals case, just after announcing his partnership with Strange Kings, he was flaunting his new gear on snapchat and spending a lot of time having guests over at his new apartment which was said to cost more than 100,000 FCFA a month with about a million francs worth of furniture. I am assuming that he was getting a monthly allowance and some money for his wardrobe. I hear Mic Monsta had a similar lodging situation with Kreef. On an interview, with I think Miss P, Mic Monsta in his media trained voice said he was happy with his sponsors who he even claimed were like big sisters to him. It all sounded sweet at the time but would he say that now?
I was recently asked to speak to an artist who was approached by another Cameroonian in the diaspora looking to sponsor his Career. Before presenting him with a deal, he was asked to propose what he would like to get in a record deal - a good move in my opinion. Mind you the artists is one of the most talented around here but that he even thought to ask for a 250 million francs budget for a three year deal was outright ridiculous. One of the items in the deal was a car worth 5 million francs. Now, even if that guy had that kind of money to spend, I don’t think even Daphne can make that money back in 3 years. I have seen other cases where artists have rejected deals that would have served them better just because the labels did not overpromise on the upkeep but rather focused on giving the artists what would help them develop themselves.
If you ask me, any artist in Cameroon with the success/popularity of someone like Ewube downwards, does not deserve a record deal that comes with a new furnished apartment and a wardrobe allowance. I am talking about every artists without a hit song. On the list of which Cameroonian artists should be given a furnished apartment at signing, Tzy Panchak is the last name - just to give you some perspective. Every other artist below that needs to continue staying where they now stay, be it in their mothers house or wherever and focus on making the kind of music that will pay for their new place.
Now, you also have the record label owners that think their own shine is almost as important, if not more important, as that of the artist they are signing.There are situations where having a record label owner in front of the lens can add value but that is in very rare cases.
You realize that in the title of this article, I put the blame on the artists and not on the record labels. I do so intentionally because it is the artists that need to look out for themselves the most - instead of leaving their future in the hands of strangers with promises on piece of paper. For the most part, those in the diaspora coming out here to sign artists are not leaving their day jobs or primary sources of income behind so for most of them, they are always ready to quit at any time. For the artists, most have taken the dive into uncharted waters and are a certain period of time, it takes the same amount of energy to turn back as it would to go all the way.
Any-Ha!
So what then is the right kind of record deal for artists to go into?
There is something called an ARTIST DEVELOPMENT DEAL and I believe that is what our young artists should be looking for. Now it not a matter of it being called that because you can be presented with a deal that has nothing to do with developing you as an artist that carries that title so let me talk about what an artist development deal looks like.
The artist development deal focuses entirely on helping the artist produce music that can be used to put the artist in a platform to get recognized and picked up by a major record label. As in Stands in Cameroon, at our scale, I can say Steven’s Music and Empire are the only record labels close to anything Major. Steven’s Music is the only label that has artist development integrated into its philosophy in the way it used to be in the in Major records labels in the 70’s through the early 90’s. New Bell Music develops artists but mostly does it in a way that makes it rather harder for those artists to exist in another ecosystem.
Another key aspect of the artist development deal is that the artists is involved in deciding how much will go into producing records for the artists for the purpose of exposing their talent to third party/major record labels. In essence, the record label offering the artist development deal is working like a artist manager. The term of the agreement is usually based on projects and not time as we normally hear someone was signed for two years…
To put it in Lamnso, if I had a record label and I wanted to sign an artist development deal with an artists, we might agree for example that we want to work on a 8 track EP. I will provide the artists with the funds to record the songs and pay for the music videos if we decide to include that in the package. I will sit down with the artist and we will both agree on the amount of money I need to put down for the project to get realized and that artists will sign to agree to owing me that money. depending on the additional services I might provide in terms of marketing and PR, we will agree on the monetary value of my time and additional non monetary resources allocated toward the artists. In the deal, I will co-own the ‘masters’ of produced using my money. We will negotiate on what percentage of the masters I own.
Assuming we put out the work and get the attention of a major record label that wants to sign the artists, that record label will be picking up the debt. They can pay me off or agree on payment terms. I will still hold my share of the rights to the songs (masters. publishing, and licensing) which can also be bought from me - that is between the artists and his new record label. I get the money I invested with a chance to profit from the risk while the artists gets the opportunity to find a better opportunity.
At this point If you still don’t understand how a artist development deal works, and you really want to - call me and pay me.
FINISH
- Tino Foy