By: Ugochukwu Favour-Mayor
(@UgochukwuFM)
After Five
Star Music, the label on which the young artist Skiibii was signed on denied that
the talented musician pulled a death stunt to market his music, the group went
ahead to sack, or however suspend its manager, Soso Soberenko over breach of
contract and mismanagement.
In a statement, the label said, Skiibii, born Abiodun Toyyib
collapsed and was rushed to a private hospital in Lagos, but unknowingly got
news of his death covering the country’s blogosphere. Can that be true?
Nigerians disagreed, as they revolted in anger through their tweets and updates
online.
Drastically, Soso Soberenko’s twitter
account followers are reducing. Even the Skiibii that was on the news never had
added followers, as his own account is stagnant. What then is the gain? Promo
of the song? I’m sure you’ve not heard of what a prospective lost fan of his
said.
“How sick, demeaning and totally unprofessional it is to fake your own death just to promote a damn track! Of course just like the popular saying goes, you can only take a horse to the stream but you can’t force it to drink from it. Truth be told, I never knew you existed not until now. But the fact is this, you got the much desired attention but you’ve also lost the rational part of your fan base and prospective fans.
“A true talent does not need such a sick stunt to get noticed and
celebrated. The last time I checked, your famous and rich label mates (Kcee and
Harry Song) never pulled such a sick stunt before making it, obviously because
they’ve got something real to offer. Trust me, if they (your record label
mates) encouraged you to do this so as to get noticed, they obviously don’t
think you are talented.
“Hey dude, stars don’t struggle so hard to shine, they eventually
get noticed because of what they carry. Trust me, if I hear your song on any of
my devices, I wouldn’t even let it stay in my recycle bin. Like seriously, you
don’t deserve more words than I have written. Skiibii, now we know you but we
refuse to know your songs,” Paul Olarewaju wrote.
After I got the update of Kcee
sacking his manager, Soso, what came to my mind was: clients will always be
clients. As a professional, you should for no reason allow your clients to ride
on you after a signed deal you found being cool. Even before an agreement will
be reached, there are certain terms that would be enlisted for you to drive on,
and after stating them, you should not operate outside them. It makes you a
professional, as it will also save you from future business risks.
Now, the general public is
blaming Soso. And even if Kcee knows anything about the death stunt, he will
never agree to it. What if he had slowed on his actions of moving on without
sacrificing anybody? It will definitely end up destroying his long built
career. Today, he has continued his journey while Soso is paying the price.
Even if his sack report was
another masterminded update, in the heart of Nigerians and their appreciative
fan base it’s as good as Soso got sacked for playing on their intelligence,
which makes it messier for his future endeavours. As it stands now, he will
continue to suffer it until grace runs into him and career. What is the lesson?
Never allow your clients to override you on professional decision. Tell them
what is to be known, and stand by it. Even if they sound too pushy, avoid their
rants by showing them the advantages and disadvantages.
When problem will come as a
result of given in to their rants and pushy request, I bet you, they will take
a walk and you will bear it alone. However, before a client comes to you, he or
she has something in mind, which basically is built on riding through whatever
means that will make them famous. Anything that will them gain success after
success, that’s their aim.
Understanding the just concluded
paragraph, you then need to adopt the professional guide of insisting on what
you think should be done. Put together, Soso may not find it too easy bouncing
back. Why? While growing, it has been an unseasonal advice to respect all not
minding their level in life, as surely you will meet them on return. For Soso,
I really don’t know why some people are not too comfortable with him. I
remember getting series of report where most clients stated that he shuns them
a lot.
“First, he doesn’t reply messages
or call back after a long dial. He has an attitude of scaring away most
corporate business people who would come for endorsement deals or businesses.
He doesn’t communicate so well with the media.”
After all these got stated, I
looked through myself, I saw some as being true, while some were generated as a
result of hatred. Yes, haters will always be there. But from the very one I had
an experience of I will like to treat it. It was when Kcee released his Take
Over album. After Kcee engaged his long time personal friend who happens to be
a PR Specialist to handle his album’s media project; alongside, I got hired as
a joint force through that his friend who is also my colleague.
You know what happened? Throughout
the period we trended Kcee’s album project, Soso as his manager never knew of
our engagement. He was enjoying the hype, while thinking that God directly came
down from heaven to do his jobs for him. I felt terribly disappointed. And
that’s not the only experience, as I have seen an investor pulling out of a
deal with Five Star artistes because of perceived Soso’s attitude to business.
Like what the investor said, “he
feels so big of himself that he rarely take calls. Even when you spend your
quality time composing mails to him, he doesn’t reply them. I really don’t know
if I should say that Kcee and E-money are now the ones managing him.” Honestly,
everybody is entitled to his or her opinion. If it can be true, it may be his
working style. Besides, if it’s working for him, let him keep riding on it.
Does it mean nobody says well of
him? Common, I also got nice comments about him. While insisting on the top
quotes, I will say it’s a general problem most investors face in the hands of some
music managers. Of course, majority of music managers can be annoying when it
comes to feedback and responses to mail.
For the entire Five Star Music
crew, I pray they learn from Skiibii’s incident. They should learn from the
professional side of managing an artiste. As I write to you, most observers
feel that the group is no longer creative. But thanks to Reggae Blues by Harry
Song, which brought life to Skiibii’s career with that line: “Skiibii oh pop
Champaign.”
Other groups in the music
industry are always coming up with newer ideas. Harry Song is playing a strong
role in reviving the creative aspect of their team, but at some point we are
not seeing complementing hands.
Also for Soso Soberekon, I will
say that if the artistes are becoming too busy to create ideas, the manager
ought to be working behind the background. If the artistes are getting it right
by growing bigger and bigger everyday as a result of effort and ideas
implemented by the manager, it will still be him that will reap from it.
Look at groups like Chocolate
City, Mavin and the rest, with songs or no song, these groups will continue to
stand as a reckoning force in the music industry. It’s about standing to terms;
being strict to the rules of management and expanding frontiers of the business
through accommodation of new acts. On the big lesson to what a commentator
stated: “We have succeeded in knowing Skiibii, and not his songs.” But with
God, e go better. Meanwhile, much respect to E-Money.
I got this in my inbox, so i decided to post as it is....#No offence
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