Most Kenyan musicians don’t know their worth and it’s sad

Despite being super-talented and all, you’ll be shocked to learn that most Kenyan musicians don’t really understand their worth. This is a sad fact of life!

So, here’s the scenario, you are are dead broke despite being an accomplished musician. You’ve dropped three new singles since the year began.

To add to that  you have thousands of followers on your own social media pages, meaning you can easily pull crowds to a gig.

Someone, say a fraudulent promoter, approaches and asks you to perform at an out of town gig for Ksh. 10,000 and you agree because you need to sort out some bills and what not.

Who’s the fool here? Is it the promoter or the musician. It’s definitely the latter and I’ll explain why.

You see, Kenyan musicians should be aware of their worth and stop undervaluing themselves. When they accept paltry amounts for out of town gigs, they are unknowingly setting a bad precedence.

Event organizers are always in constant communication. If word goes around that you charge a certain amount for a performance, your rate card is set.

The next time an event organizer calls the musician up, they will probably offer them the same amount or much less.

At the end of the day, a musician will be bitter for getting bad rates yet they are being offered such meagre amounts because of the precedence that they set. It’s your fault bro!

Musicians should know that it’s okay to turn down amounts they are not comfortable with and that their personal needs or debts should not come before their crafts.

If a musician  needs a manager to help them evaluate how much they are worth, they should go ahead and get one. It’s totally okay!

This way, they’ll get paid what they are worth.  The musician, will also be able to do more things. Instead of performing at many small gigs and being underpaid, just have one or two and get your worth.

Some of the musicians who have been smiling all the way to the bank because they understand their worth are the likes of Naiboi, Khaligraph, Sauti Sol, Otile Brown, Nameless, Avril, Fena Gitu, King Kaka, Octopizzo, Nyashinski, just to name a few.

If you’ve been wondering how come they always have a new song every now and then it’s because they are getting paid what they are worth.

Also read: Khaligraph’s performance fee has shot to 1 million bob per show and it’s totally okay