ZAlebs Embroiled In Royalties Drama

A few of our ZAlebs have been embroiled in royalty disputes with their record labels or management teams and the drama is never a good thing to see. All their hard work, dedication time and tears put in a project get wasted. It is mostly sad to see these celebs suffer knowing they are owed millions in royalties.

Read more: Makhadzi’s Manager Dragged… Again!

We take a look at 4 cases where celebrities are embroiled in legal cases which involve their hard earned royalties. 

Being physically abusive to Makhadzi was not enough, Rita Dee had to also allegedly exploit the Matorokisi hitmaker. At some point Makhadzi was said to be broke and it was revealed that Rita was hoarding her hard earned money.

Makhadzi took to Twitter to slam Rita and she also revealed that she deleted her videos from YouTube which have millions of views. She also never smelled a cent from those funds.

“The only thing I did was to ask my money from my ex manager for my  previous album Matrokisi ,and money for my royalties. What she (Rita Dee) did was to claim my money and delete all videos from YouTube including “Riyavenda” (with over) 10 million views, and “Matorokisi” (that had over) 8 million views. I didn’t get a cent from my album.”

😭😭 since I asked her to claim my money from iTunes she said they were not working because of lockdown .now everything is back to normal she’s not answering my calls she blocked me . I don’t even know how much I did from my album .💔 iam only surviving with show’s.

— Makhadzi (@MakhadziSA) November 29, 2020

Imagine laying your powerful voice on a song which has gained global popularity and not get paid a cent from it. Jerusalema was arguably 2020’s global anthem as it brought people together. Even this year it is still raking in the nods and topping charts. Even rappers Offset and Cardi B were seen jamming to the song recently.

In a statement she issued Nomcebo claimed to not have been paid a cent for her amazing contribution to Jerusalema. “My voice and lyrics have transcended globally, but I still await what is due to me.”

“I have not been paid a cent by the label for #Jerusalema despite the song’s global success. I have been ridiculed, with efforts to marginalise my contribution. I, as a female artist, can’t stay silent on this anymore. The matter is now with my lawyers,” she said.

Open Mic (Master KG) hit back at Nomcebo’s claims and said she had received a million in payment. But Nomcebo wants more, in fact she wants a 70/30 split.

Kwesta’s song Spirit featuring Wale was a song that topped charts nationwide but Kwesta, the American rapper and Makwa want their royalties from the telecoms company and 2 other companies. These two companies are namely Wunderman Marketing and Wunderman Thompson which owe the 3 parties R859 500. They also want R702 000 for the Behind the Scenes short film which went viral on the internet. In total, royalties owed amount to over R1.5-million.

They also infringed on the copyright. In September last year, BMW South Africa did an ad celebrating the iconic Gusheshe, but they used the beginning of Spirit which did not sit well with Kwesta.

On social media Kwesta wrote, “Do the right thing!!! It took so much effort from so many people to get the rights to sample that song. We did the right thing because we understood the value of the art! This ad cheapens all of those efforts. DO THE RIGHT THING FOR ‘The Grootmans.”

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Picture credit: Instagram