First of all, let me mention that I am not much of a Sarkodie fan but I acknowledge and appreciate his hard work, dedication—and his ability to have succeeded in an ‘industry’ fully soaked in weakness.
When it comes to Charter House, I really don’t like big companies or corporations, because they always screw the small guy up—and over the years, I’ve said the lack of competition and the ‘monopolistic’ status of Charter House is somewhat turning them into an industry demi-god. Going against their flowing current means you should expect to be shunned, banned or marginalised—and that is the definition of TYRANNY.
Now that I have made it clear that I do not necessarily admire Charter House or Sarkodie though I respect their success, let’s dispassionately consider the substantive issue which many have missed in their discussion over the recent Sarkodie-Charter House brouhaha…
It all started when Sarkodie took to social media to rant over the violation of his personality right—using his name or image for a commercial purpose without his consent or agreed compensation. This is both a statutory and common law violation, which means, Charter House did not just erred when they did that to Sarkodie (irrespective of their compelling reasons), they also broke the law…
Sarkodie had every right, be it moral or legal to be upset of this considering how hard he has worked without any industry support to obtain his current musical status. His fans see him as some sort of Hiplife god and to be frank, he is—more like Ghana’s version of Kanye West.
For this, insults, rants and blows went the way of Charter House from the fans and even some established Ghanaian artistes. Legally, I supported Sarkodie for the simple fact that, Ghanaians continue to take the piss out of people’s intellectual property rights and personality rights on every scale.
Charter House knew their actions were wrong and more importantly, they breached Sarkodie’s legal right so they quickly apologised—and followed this with lengthy explanations as to what happened.
Somehow, it leaked or emerged that the failure to come into agreement between Charter House and Sarkodie on performance fee was because Sarkodie exorbitantly asked for 1 billion old Ghana Cedis for 10-15 minutes performance while Charter House was ready to pay him 400 million old Ghana Cedis.
Then when Charter House was willing to compromise by wanting to pay 900 million old Ghana Cedis which Sarkodie had reduced his 1 billion to, he increased his amount to 1.2 billion—and at this stage, there was some sort of a negotiation deadlock.
The figures have gotten a lot of people upset, saying, Sarkodie is greedy and he had no right to quote such high amounts for 10-15 minutes performance, especially at an Industry event—and this is where my problem lies.
Let’s understand that, Sarkodie as an artiste has every right to charge whatever he wants—including wanting an aeroplane in exchange for a minute performance. It may sound unfair and too much but he has that RIGHT.
Charter House on the other hand has every right to reject high charges they deem unfair, even if it’s coming from a top artiste like Sarkodie. This is the hallmark of a laissez faire market.
Now that I have established that Sarkodie has every right to charge whatever amount he sees his performance fit for—and Charter House is not obliged to accept whatever fees an artiste demands, what has Sarkodie really done wrong with his quotation?
Of course Sarkodie’s fees may be high, so is the price of the VIP tickets being sold by Charter House—I know several people who have said, considering the state of the nation, the ticket prices are extensively expensive and they cannot afford it. These are private contracts or negotiations which mostly lack the conscience of fairness, except profits.
If anyone did something wrong throughout the negotiations and thereafter, it’s Charter House who couldn’t meet Sarkodie’s demand—and yet proceeded to use his name or image when they’ve not paid for it.
I’ve also heard radio arguments such as; Ghana Music Awards is an industry award and as such artistes should not really charge much such as the Grammys—and to be frank, this is a loose argument.
Charter House has sponsors for the VGMAs and more also, Charter House is a private company that shares its profits annually or so to its owners (and shareholders if any). Everything such an entity does is business/profit motivated. It’s not the Red Cross or some established industry Charity—and even if it was, artistes cannot be compelled (they will have to do so voluntary) to waive their performance fees for them.
Let me deal with the uneven Grammy and Ghana Music Awards comparison being loosely made. Artistes are not stupid and if they actually receive immense benefits from winning or performing at the Ghana Music Awards, they would be asking to do so for FREE—so maybe they are not getting anything worth comparing to winning the Grammys or performing on the night.
When an artiste wins a Grammy Award, research has shown that that artiste receives “at least 55% in concert ticket sales” and producers receive similar increase in fees for their works during the year following a Grammy win.
According to David Banner, who won in 2009 for his work on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III, his “typical producer fee soared from $50,000 before winning the award to $100,000 or more afterwards; fellow producer Jim Jonsin’s jumped 90% in the wake of his win for producing Lil Wayne’s smash single “Lollipop.”
Rihanna’s fees doubled from $150,000 to $300,000 after winning a Grammy in 2008. And it’s not just her; Bruno Mars also saw a 55 percent increase because of his 2011 Grammy win from $130,000 to $202,000. And Taylor Swift saw an even bigger gain of 380 percent with her 2010 Grammy win, from $125,000 to $600,000.
I will call the Grammys an industry award with industry benefits for all winners (artistes and the organisers)—and now tell me about the true benefits of VGMAs to these artistes apart from Charter House cashing in or receiving the annual glory? Saying you have won a VGMA when it does not translate to anything else is not a benefit.
To me and the many other Ghanaian artistes, the VGMA is not an industry event—even if some see it so, it has no real industry benefits to these artistes like the Grammys, therefore, no one should expect them to perform for far less their fees. It’s just another performance to them—and nothing more.
When performing at the VGMA or winning the VGMA begins to have such a huge career benefit for our artistes—they would start treating it as an industry event with industry benefits just as the Grammys.
Until then, it’s a privately organised Award scheme and people have the right to charge whatever for performance.
I agree that sarkodie has done a lot for the industry and he’s really talented but let’s be real 1.2 billion for just 15 minutes…dude is crazy. Am really conflicted about sarkodie because he has all this money and request ridiculous amount of money but then wants to make songs about society, poverty, corruption and the government like he’s feeling the effects or whatever. I mean he does have the right to talk about it but he shouldn’t act as if he feels it too. I think 5000gh to 10,000gh cedis is okay.
So you are the one to tell someone how he should charge for a job he will do not you? nonsense
Look monkey, I don’t really give 2 f’s, I don’t care about sarkodie or how much he charges am just giving my opinion and if you can’t take it then close your eyes and keep on moving. Don’t ever try to come at me sideways. Bye monkey. Nonsense.
First off remember without the hard work of these artists there’s no awards so they need to be treated right and paid for performances. How can you say 10000ghc is ok? Even to record one song do u know how much? Plus to shoot a video. Mind you sarkodie has people to pay and take care of what’s 10000? How can u even price an inyerlectual property? Smh some ppl
No I don’t know how much it takes to record a song or shoot a vid tbh I don’t really care. My opinion is for just 15 minutes sarkodie wants 1.2 billion to perform like maybe 4 songs…mmm nah, that sounds ridiculous to me. Especially when he’s trying to be some social activist. Fine if they want to give him that 400 mill no problem it’s their money but 1.2!!!! I don’t care if it’s sarkodie….but it’s my opinion. Money is money at the end of the day…there are other talented people that can do it for half, a quarter or a third of the money. It’s not that deep. SMH SOME PPL!!!
Charter House is a cheat. They go about like they dont make money from this award. They are making large profit each year if not why are they still doing it every year. They don’t want to pay the artistes good
Good Article except the part about trying to mention the fees in Old Ghana cedis, sounds like our politicians. remember Old 1 million Ghana cedis is just 100 Ghana. Why go through all the route given we changed this currency over 7yrs ago? 1.2 Billion Old Ghana cedis is just 120,000 cedis now and approx 32,000 USD. Sarkodie has every right given his pedigree to charge such a fee. You diluted a very good article with a loose comparison of figures in old Ghana cedis trying to confuse who?
Guys let be real in our submissions. Do you know what these artist go through to be creative and innovative in-order to compose a single hit track and keep up with the competition. Mind you, when u fail to realese a track or mixtape within even a month, consider yourself out. Let ask ourselves these questions. How much it cost for a single professional mastered track? How much it cost to produce an internationally standardized video? How many show do they even get in the year under review? What happens when the show doesn’t come? Let not forget that not all the amount that sark or shatta or anyother artist is charging ends up in their pocket, their management also has a cut in it.
Thus i even think the GHC 120,000 is way below the belt for a professional artist like SARK & SHATTA. Did you guys hear what EDEM said about how much it cost him to shoot “the one” video which eventually won the best video of the night. if you care to know, he said GHC 40,000. So what does charter house mean by saying they will pay SARK GHC 40,000. It doesn’t make sense and add-up at all. Ghanians, let support these artist, if not how can they compete with even our 9ja brothers.
Please let be real, because it ain’t that easy.
Big-ups to Stonebowy. you deserve it.
Its just simple. Sarkodie feels like he is a global dude even though he raps in Twi so now he spends in dollars. The GH currency on the other hand is as weak as a spider being soaked in gasoline. If what i read on here is true then $35000 equals old ghana cedis 1.2 billion, then Sarkodie should have asked for 5Billion old ghana cedis. You live in Ghana so you think $35000 is some big money?? dont be fooled. You want someone to blame go blame your incompetent politicians. When I was leaving Gh a while ago $1 was 1GH Cedis now a buck is almost 4cedis. smh .So y’all hating on the first and probably the last Ghanaian to win a BET with our own Twi Language can suck my d***