Musicians in uneven advert deals with corporates: Mono Mukundu

Mukundu said the imbalance is noticeable, particularly when it comes to advertisements.

The relationship between musicians and the corporate world is heavily skewed; favouring one side, causing an imbalance, veteran music producer and guitarist Clive Mono Mukundu has said.

Mukundu said the imbalance is noticeable, particularly when it comes to advertisements.

“In the past, the music industry greatly benefited from advertising as it was highly profitable. "With the advent of digitalisation and the resulting rise in the number of studios, it was inevitable that things would eventually shift. However, such does not justify extremely uneven negotiations,” he said.

The corporates insist that they pay no deposit before work commences. Then they expect the task to be completed as soon as yesterday, but when it comes to remuneration, they pay at their own convenience.

In other words, they demand that the service provider maintains a high level of professionalism in meeting the deadlines, but then they display a distinct lack of professionalism in return when it comes to compensating the service provider,” he said.

Mukundu said during the creative process, the corporates give a multitude of instructions to modify numerous aspects of the jingle.

“As these modifications are carried out, all individuals involved in the jingle's creation will need to make their way to the studio, using their own resources for transport,” he said.

“Once the assignment is finished, the corporates are quick to pay media outlets so that the jingle is flighted, but they are not in a hurry to pay the artists.

“The most concerning matter, though, is their unwillingness to pay in United States dollars.

“The worry stems from the fact that by the time they make the RTGS payment, inflation will have reduced the money's worth.”

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