By Ian Ortega
Whereas in Nigeria, it’s the upcoming actresses and actors that suffer in order to land the breakthrough in Nollywood, in Uganda, the upcoming music artistes seem to find the climb even harder. From DJs soliciting money to play their songs, to presenters and music producers requiring the females to have sex with them as a prerequisite to record their songs or give them airplay; we unveil a public secret that the entertainment industry has not had the guts to face.
By the time a female artiste gets to the top, she will have received sexual requests from not less than twenty men with the ability to make or break her music career in the industry. “To make it in the Ugandan music industry, you have to get over your sense of shame and just sleep with them, it’s hard saying NO,” says one upcoming artiste who’s receiving fair airplay.
“The first time I went to record a song at one of those studios in Kamwokya, I was tasked by the producer for ‘some’ so he could charge me less and make the best beats for me. I was surprised but this looked like the norm here, almost every girl who has recorded a song at this studio has slept with one or two of the producers,” this upcoming artiste continues to narrate her ordeal.
Why Presenters, DJs and hosts would choose to take sexual and financial advantage of these artistes is a question too big to answer? This seems to be a vice that has been going on from the time the industry begun.
The first interview any upcoming artiste is likely to do before anything else is the carpet interview. Even the fakest of radio presenters will ask for sex once in a while to play a song. It’s not uncommon to hear these artistes converse with each other as far as the needs of every presenter. “Atte olowooza Tuff B bwotamuwaako enyimba azikuuba,” one girl comments to literally mean; “Tuff B (presenter at KUT on NBS) will never play your song if you reject his sexual advances.
Yet the artistes never come out in public to complain, it’s something that’s contained within their circles, another of those prerequisites that has been accepted as far as what it takes to make it in our music industry.
Gossip journalists have also been at the top of this game if reports by artistes are to be taken with seriousness. “For him to do an interview on you, he will want you to pay him something or offer him some sex, he’s not alone, he has several colleagues in the media,” another artiste comments. Asked to mention the “he” in question, these artistes go mum.
Looking deeper, one gets to realize that the problem goes beyond the surface. A media personality earns an average of Ugx500,000 per month, to keep up with life, he looks for other means of earning from his job, that’s why most of them end up asking for money in order to feature these artistes.
Another media personality puts the blame on the upcoming artistes. “Before you even say anything to her, she’s assuming you want money or sex from her. Most of the time, it’s these girls that actually coerce us into having sex with them in order to give them airplay. It’s rarely our intention to have sex with them, but like any normal man, if a hot female offers to even pay you a visit at your home just to discuss her latest video, you are left with no choice,” says this Record TV presenter.
Could sex be the route to musical success? After all, even the current music videos are being sold on the sex card. From the Wrecking Ball of Miley Cyrus to Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda and even our very own Hajji video by Brenda Nambi; the music industry may need a few self-flagellations.
A story is even told of a former employee at Monitor who moved into a PRO position with one of the bodies controlling Kampala and was offering to give information to a journalist on condition that she offers her some sex. The girl played hard to get, got some great information from him and disappeared without giving him the ‘goods’. Yet the same gentleman was willing to release more information had this girl given him a part of her moist hole.
How this will end, is not something we can answer. In times when crews have collapsed because of sexual abuse, should we remind ourselves of the Wafagio girls and other girl groups? In times when promoters are in relationships with the people they are supposed to promote, in times when managers turn into boyfriends of the artistes, our music industry still has a long way to go.
Professionalism is highly lacking. We have music mentors who by way of thinking, get the wrong idea of them having control over whom the artistes they have mentored should date.
For every song from an upcoming artiste that you hear being played on radio, for every new video you watch, for every song a DJ plays, there’s a 90% chance that the song is a result of the sex the upcoming artiste had with one of them or the money they paid to the DJ.
Sex and money that exchanges hands is the reason our new talent will take years to break out. Many give up on their dreams out of frustration while others contract diseases and take revenge spreading these same diseases. Even our video vixens have not been spared from the sex abuse, many of them are required to sleep with the video directors and big musicians after a video shoot in the night.
On whether names can be mentioned, it all goes back to the boldness of the victims in coming out. Otherwise, ours is simply a food for thought. Is sex and money the way to grow the industry, me thinks that’s a route to stagnation.