You must have seen what is happening between GASHA and Eddy Kenzo
2024 is definitely that year that Cameroonian artistes want to break boundaries. They are trying to penetrate every market which is very Good . Collaborating with Producers , lyricists and other artistes is one of the most exciting thing in music which many artistes love . It gets even more interesting when you have a chance to collaborate with your Idol .
Note , music collaboration is not only with musicians but with producers too , Stanley Enow collaborated with a legendary US producer Scott . Ko C is in Nigeria doing the most . This is exciting but there is a lot to music collabos especially the business part .
Before the next collabo drops and people start calling out any artiste to share , let’s school you on how to make the most out of Collabos .
In music Collaboration, there is something called a “Split Sheet “ . This paper is used to keep track of ownership . Like who owns the song ? What percentage does the other has ? Listen , you might have money to pay someone but he prefers to get a certain percentage of the royalties and get certain ownership over the song . So not every collabo is paid in cash first . So it is the source of truth when you want to register your songs . The split shit is an agreement between you and the co writers .
We also have what we call collaboration Agreements . This shows who has the rights to license the music and many other things . You might not want the other party to use your music for any advert may be in their country , you might not want them to perform the song without you ,all these is mentioned in the collaboration agreement .
The parties involve also discuss on how the project will be promoted . If the two parties will be active in the promo, the pay or the percentage the collaborator gets increase and may be some rights given to him like he can perform the song too . It is very important to discuss promo in music agreement if the two parties love their arts and want to do business . The other party will accept based on the pay you are giving him or on the percentage he will be getting from the royalties .
Omah lay collaborated with Justin Bieber and both of them definitely own the masters of the song . The song was uploaded on Omah lay’s YouTube channel and Justin Bieber’s own same with streaming platforms . You make your own money from it and have 100% of what you make .
Music business is good but you must be careful and make sure you discuss everything well . You don’t want to battle on the ownership of a song when it becomes a hit . Make sure you sign a split shit and a music agreement.
Many countries do this , we are somehow behind reasons we shout all the time and attack foreign artistes to do what was not in their agreement.If you are into music and you don’t know how the business part works . kindly get someone to handle it so you can make the most out of what you are doing .
A split shit is not done verbally, a music collaboration agreement is not done verbally .
You discuss , put into papers and sign . Many music Rights organizations always demand for these documents .
If Gasha had this information in 2015 we are not sure Kenzo will do what he did . It’s sad he used her instead of Schooling a sister .
