There has never been a real consensus over the payment of ‘payola’ by musicians. While others consider it a necessary evil, others see it as unethical and unfair. What we don’t often hear is a musician coming out to admit paying it moreso to admit that their songs don’t get the airplay they’re ‘buying’.
Just then, Belinda Nana Ekua Amoah, popularly known as Mzbel steps up to admit paying ‘payola’.
Speaking in an interview with Happy FM‘s DJ Advicer, host of Ayekoo, Mzbel says even though she used to pay a lot of payola, several DJs did not play her songs but yet would line up every month to get their money.
“The minimum I pay each is GH¢300 but they are still not promoting my songs. Sometimes I have to remind them before they even play it once or twice.”
Mzbel said the refusal to play her songs was so widespread she decided to fire some of the DJ’s.
“They were more than ten DJs on my payroll but I had to trim them down to a little above 5.” she revealed on Happy FM.
By: Mercy Bee