Okyeame Kwame advises musicians to give value for money

Ghana’s Rap Doctor, Okyeame Kwame has advised his fellow musicians to try to brand themselves properly and give their fans value for money before they ask for better fees for their performances.

The rapper’s comments come in the wake of agitations by some musicians in Ghana that they are not treated fairly and paid well compared to international artistes, especially Nigerians, who perform in the country.

It is reported that some Nigerian music heavyweights do charge performance fee of about US$80,000 and above before they perform in Ghana while some Ghanaian artistes take about GHc5,000.

Okyeame Kwame told Myjoyonline.com in an interview that while it was not fair that event organizers pay Ghanaian artistes less, his colleagues should give value for money first.

“When D’banj is already paid US$100,000 to perform at home and he is coming to Ghana to perform and we are paying him as an expatriate, it should be five times that and already a Ghanaian artiste is being paid let’s say between GHc5,000 and GHc10,000,” he stated.

According to him, “The fact that someone has been able to brand himself to worth that much doesn’t mean that when they are bringing an artiste, you must immediately decide to want more.”

The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) Spokesperson advised that “what I think we should do is to bring more value to the table, improve the arts, improve the stage craft and bring in more people and say look I’m paying bandsmen, I’m paying lights-men, I’m paying production, I’m paying someone to script this thing to improve your show so therefore give me GHc50,000.”

With such planning and evidence, he noted, “you have a budget to prove that you are worth that kind of money they will give it to you but not because 2Face is taking US$80,000 per performance so automatically you must also earn US$80,000.”