Lerato Matheka
MASERU — Jerry
Madubela, a local artiste featured in Dunamis’ second album The Glory and da
Street, is up in arms against his former colleague claiming he exploited
him. Madubela told XpressPeople
that Dunamis has refused to pay him royalties from The Glory and da Street
despite their gentlemen’s agreement.
“He promised to pay
me for the two songs, Stay Fly and I Try where I was featured as
a vocalist,” he said.
“I went to him at KOL
Productions for assistance on my own projects and he heard my voice; he then
told me he was working on an album and loves my voice.
“He asked me to
feature and promised to pay me royalties. I was not the composer of the songs
but he said since I would be joining KOL Productions, he would recognise me as
one of the composers so I could benefit,” Madubela said.
Also known as
Doglander Dee, Madubela said his frustration is that the songs are making waves
and helping the whole album to be identified.
“If I wasn’t featured
on the album, it wasn’t going to be as much a hit as it is now. The most
popular tracts are Stay Fly and I Try and it’s the same songs
that I worked on yet I have not been paid a dime.”
Madubela who is based
in South Africa said they didn’t have a written agreement because “he sounded
genuine and we were almost close to working together, so I trusted his word”. “I am very angry that
I was exploited by someone I thought I could work with,” he said.
He said when he
approached Dunamis “he just drove me off the topic and he ended up not taking
my calls. My advice to artistes in Lesotho is to be wary of who they do
business with, a friend can become a vampire when it comes to moola
(money)”. He added: “Dunamis is
selfish and all about himself. I was heartbroken when I went to South African
Music Rights Organisation only to learn that my name wasn’t included. It is
more disgusting because he was recently named Econet Telecom Lesotho’s
Ambassador and owns the promo CD, he included both songs and still I didn’t get
anything.”
Dismissing the
allegations, Dunamis, born Retšelisitsoe Molefe, told XpressPeople he
should be the one complaining because Madubela “used me as a stepping stone”. “The guy was
literally begging me to feature him on my album and I agreed,” he said.
“I hear him
complaining about royalties, does he even know what royalties are? I have
featured a lot of people on the album and none of them are receiving royalties
because they are just featured.” He explained that
royalties are given to the composer and arranger of a song and “the guy just
begged me to feature him”. Dunamis said Madubela
was never an artiste of KOL and there was never a payment agreement between
them. “Every artiste that
joins KOL is given a contract and he didn’t have one, unless he can show me a
document with my signature where I agreed to pay him, then we can talk a
different story,” he said. Dunamis released his
second album The Glory and da Street last year. It was launched on
May 28 last year.
The album features
the likes of Doglander Dee, Flashy-Flash, Metal Jacket, L-tore, MSU, Shawdy,
Lily, Vortech. The Southern African
Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) was established in 1961 with the objective of
protecting the intellectual property of composers and authors, as well as to
ensure that composers and authors’ talents are adequately credited both locally
and internationally. The organisation is
the primary representative of music performing rights in southern Africa. SAMRO plays a critical role in the administration of
works, distribution of royalties and promotes copyright law of composers and
authors’ works, through the collection of licence fees from television
broadcasters, radio stations, in-store radio stations, pubs, clubs, retailers,
restaurants and all other businesses that broadcast music.
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