By Seleoe Nonyane
The entertainment industry continues to be on the lips of revelers, local artists and deejays, throwing event organizers at the receiving end. This time the complaint is that local artists are paid unreasonable fees or no fees at all after performing at certain events.
According to Motlatsi Makhetha, a music promoter popularly known as Afrodeejay , revelers assume that events are successful and making profits, but that is not the case. Therefore, he added, that makes it hard for artists to get paid satisfactory fees after participating in shows.
He said in most cases they run losses due to lack of sponsorship resulting in artists getting meagre pay.
Afrodeejay said even with sponsorship, an event can still run a loss, the reason being that the sponsors do not give the full amount of money needed.
As an event organizer, he said music shows are costly and some artists and deejays who are expecting to be paid hefty amounts of money for their performances at occasions is a bit too far-fetched.
Moreover, he said the trend of seeing the same line-up on most events is because they are trying to address the issue of running losses in the events.
“Sometimes it is important to book artists with whom the organizer has relations with. So, this is why we will see the same people in most events.
“This is because the people whom one has a relationship with will not expect to be paid because they understand that as the organizer you are hustling and when it is their turn to host, you will return their favour.
“We have formed an association and we have an understanding that when it is time for one of our members to host a show we will perform for free in order to cut losses,” he said.
He warned revelers and artists that running events is not glitz and glam as it may appear. “While it is sad that artists do not get paid what they deserve they must also know that it is not because they are being scammed but the fact is that there is not enough money to pay them what they deserve,” he said.
In the case of upcoming artists expecting to be paid immediately after starting in the career, he said it will not be easy as no event organizer will book an unknown artist.
He is adamant that event organizers are always looking for musicians who attract large crowds and bring the crowd to their shows, therefore, people will not attend shows with performers “they do not know or have not seen or heard.”
“My advice to these up and coming artists is that if they want to be taken seriously and want exposure they should first start performing for free and be strategic about it.
“They must put in the work and sell themselves for a certain period of time and must have a motive. That is, they must identify at which places they will perform for free because it is not in all places they should perform for free,” he said.
Again, he advised them to also know when to stop.
He revealed that when he started, he played for free for over two years and he believes he was able to accomplish all he has due to performing for free.
