July 23, (THEWILL) – Veteran singer, Onyeka Onwenu, has lamented about how the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, reaped from where they didn’t sow, by making money off her hit single, ‘One Love”, without paying her for it.
Speaking during a press conference about the sacrifices people of her generation made for the music industry, she said, “You see some of us whose names you read about, you see on TV, you listen to our music, you automatically think that because we are famous, we are very rich. And we are rich. But quite often, you’re not seeing it.
“I know that throughout my career, I’ve had to have like three other things that I am doing. And quite often, it is from those endeavors that you make the money that you now use to put into your music.
“I remember that in the 80s, we were in a tough economic situation in Nigeria. Foreign companies were actually leaving, they were divesting and they were leaving. We used to have Polygram, CBS, EMI; these were international music recording companies and they were fully represented in Nigeria, but they began to go.
“Some of us took the decision to register our own recording companies, finance our own music in every way, shape, and form. I can tell you that the song, ‘One Love’, I didn’t make a kobo out of it. That’s the truth. Because nobody was giving it to me.
“It made money, but it was making money for other people. I know people who built houses based on what they made out of it. That was a monster hit. The facts I’m giving you, you had no idea. You can go along the line and ask many other musicians.
“Take somebody like the person who sang ‘Sweet Mother’, ask his family how much money they made from that monster international hit? Not much, because nobody was representing them. And so anybody can pick up that music, re-record it, use it anyhow, and make money out of it and they get nothing.
“So right from the beginning, we began to fight for these rights. It used to be — there was a time when if you pirated somebody’s music, it wasn’t a criminal offence, it was a civil offence. You get fined a little bit of money, which you’re quick to pay and you go right back to what you were doing.
“All you needed was one LP and you could make copies. When we had cassettes, just one cassette and you just duplicate and you make all the money. This is what we’ve been going through. So some of us have been in this battle for a very long time sacrificing.
“I look at the younger artistes today and I wonder, do they have any idea the sacrifices we made? I’ve gone on a hunger strike in front of NTA. Why? Because they were using my stuff. They used ‘Iyogogo” for eight years without my permission. not a kobo was given to me. Eight good years. So the battle has been fierce and we’ve made sacrifices.”
