THE LABEL/ARTIST BREAKUP SAGA (KAMER ENTERTAINMENT INSIGHTS)

Over the last couple of years we have seen numerous break ups in Cameroons budding music industry. fingers have been pointed and  theories have been made but mostly we have been kept in the dark about "really happened'. The nicely written press releases have attempted to give closure to the public but you would surely agree with me that no one buys it (at least those with brains). The very first one that grabbed my attention was the MUMAK/JOVI split. Jovi and Jules were more than just business partners and even till date, have shown massive support and respect for each other but people don't just wake up in the morning and decide to go their separate ways, there must have been disagreements to the point where they couldn't continue their "bromance". Well that's just me guessing... Magasco however stayed with Mumak and became Mumak's front man for the time being and released the

song "Kumba Market" during which period Jules promoted the song and publicized the upcoming video. It was however a shocker when the video dropped and the Mumak logo was nowhere to be found and Jules was totally silent about the video release. Unlike many other situations, The Mumak/Magasco breakup was extremely silent and didn't call a lot of attention. Moving on to Buea, When u heard the name BTR, you knew u were about to hear serious vocals from Arre, Ace and Ojonery but that didn't last long as 2013 witnessed the group fade into darkness but if have read my previous articles, you already know the juicy details of the split. NHNR Entertainment is in the big leagues now, signing artist and making partnership deals here and there but once upon a time before Prince Enobi (NHNR Managing Director), there was just Flamez (Dr Nkeng Stephen) and Keezy. You may already know the story how RYTHMZ came into the spotlight with their single Honey moon. These days, instead of Kezzy and Flamez, it is Keezy and Dianee. Dr Nkeng Stephen left NHNR and took his rapping/Video making skills solo. A press release wasn't given so many people don't know what really happened we are left with theories and finger pointing but if i were to take a wild guess, i would say the restructuring took a toll on the partnership.

In 2013, we were introduced to the Afe Nkap crooner Ngoma by Varsity entertainment and we witnessed the exact trend the Magasco/Mumak split took. First the audio was released and promoted by Varistys' Entertainment CEO Emmanuel Ndinayi otherwise known as Jay Jay, then the video shoot was in progress and it was equally publicized but when the video dropped, the Varsity Entertainment Logo was no where to be found. The split seems a little messy because even Jay Jays' name was removed from the lyrics of the song in the videos' version. No press release has been given regarding the split Jay jay however confirmed that Ngoma is no longer an artist under the Varsity Entertainment. Well this article wouldn't be complete if the Gasha/ Stevens split isn't mentioned. There certainly has been a lot of buzz about the breakup especially since the newly uploaded video of "Fire Di Burn" was taken down apparently by Stevens Music. Gasha and people close to her team have only responded through tweets or Facebook statuses but no fine line of what is actually happening has been drawn. Stevens Music has made it clear that they aren't willing to entertain the gossip. The truth is that we cannot fully know what happened nor do we have the right to judge it fully because we are in an era of No rules. It is easy for business minds to say you must honor contracts but you aren't the one stuck in a label who virtually does nothing for you. Sometimes these labels release a single or a video and that is it; nothing else is done for the artist no publicity or branding so they become "qwata" stars and quite honestly it is only fair that they feel like moving on. It is also common to find that the label pays more attention to the bread bringer or the front man/woman of the label (which is only fair since its a business) so the other artist definitely tends to feel neglected thus having the urges to breakup form the label.

Labels are often seen as the villains in this breakup stories but that's not always the case. Artist usually have unrealistic expectation; they see labels as magicians who would transform their careers from wood to diamond and sit back crossing their legs like village kings and when this doesn't happen, they snap and want to leave the label without completing the contracts. Like i said earlier on we are in an ere of no rules... The graph isn't perfect and you surely cannot see every possible angle. Reasons will come up everyday for music relationships to break and even though we look at it as a bad thing, in some cases there is usually a silver lining. We have seen artist who leave their labels and do extremely well and others who leave and fade into oblivion.

One thing we know for sure is that the Kamer Entertainment Scene is on the rise and with success comes a shit load of problems. There is always a price to pay for everything and in some cases, the breakup of  that long unfruitful Label/artist relationship is the right price to pay for success. There are many other artist who i haven't mentioned in this article and maybe statements i have made that may not be entirely true but O well like i always say, IT'S JUST AN OPINION...... "salam ma lekum"