Diamond Platnumz opens up on taking 60% of revenue from musicians signed to Wasafi

Diamond Platnumz is unapologetic about the ‘exploitative’ arrangement with his labels, under which Wasafi Classic Babe (WCB) Records receives 60% of the total money made by any artist signed to the label.

There has been a great deal of discussion about how WCB treats its artists since Rayvanny’s departure two weeks ago, for which Nation understands he paid Tsh1 billion (Ksh50 million) to buy out the remaining terms of his allegedly 10-year contract.

The first to criticize the label was renowned bongo flava producer P Funk Majani, whose record label Bongo Records dominated the airwaves in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“Harmonize left, Rayvanny has just left, Mbosso has never been denied his publishing rights as a songwriter, producers S2kizzy and Lizer Classic are neither recognized as composers of the projects they have created, where is their 50 percent? S2kizzy was denied a publishing advance by Sony Music hub because you guys forged the public registration of the songs he has produced.” P Funk claimed.

One of the WCB managers, Babu Tale, responded to the charges and disparaged P Funk Majani as being naive and petty without providing many details.

“I wouldn’t want to engage someone who is considered a legend. But we have to be professionals, contracts between parties are private entities. When you see someone publicly analyzing contracts that he is not part of, then he is being naïve. Music is business and as such there are contractual obligations between parties agreed to it.” Tale stated.

Our source said that Rayvanny believed it was unfair for the label to keep receiving the 60 percent from him after slowing down on project promotion once he established himself as an artist and WCB was hesitant to renegotiate the conditions.

After Harmonize in 2019, Rayvanny left the label after six years, becoming the second well-known artist to do so.

When Harmonize, the first WCB signee, forced his way out of the club after four years there, he created resentment between himself and the club’s single owner Diamond.

He had to pay Sh500 million (Ksh 25 million) to end the remaining 10 years of his contract.

He had to pay Sh500 million (Ksh 25 million) to end the remaining 10 years of his contract.

After quitting, Harmonize launched a charm offensive, accusing the WCB of continuing to be exploitative by keeping 60% of his earnings even after it ceased sponsoring his projects and left him to support himself once he became well-known and successful.

Diamond, however, doesn’t see an issue, insisting that since the artists had nothing up their sleeves when he signed them, it was only fair for him to get his money back plus any earnings.

“Lets get one thing right here, music is business. Those complaining we are exploiting artists seems to forget these artists were in other different labels but were not popular. We took them in, and molded them to a point where they were now marketable and able to generate good money unlike it was before. WCB we made them rich and famous and you hear them attest. There are no richer artists in Tanzania after me other than those from WCB . I did these by investing millions of my own money in them, but now when an artist is established, he wants to run away with the whole business. I can’t allow that, I got to have my money back and profits too. When an artiste wants out, we ask for a buyout of the contract now it becomes a tussle. That’s when you start to hear those exploitative comments,” Diamond says.