Music Producers Sarz, Ozedikus, and DJ Kaywise have all spoken up about being exploited by Nigerian musicians. Sarz shared on the Afropolitan podcast that many popular artists took advantage of him, making music together without paying him. He recalled one artist who only paid for one of two songs they worked on, leading him to set boundaries and become more selective about collaborations.
“So many popular artists took advantage of me, they would make music with me and not pay me. There is one big artiste I made two songs with but he only paid for one, that day I said anyone who doesn’t have what I’m charging, I’m not working with them then I started becoming a notorious person”.
Ozedikus who is popularly known for producing most of Rema’s early songs including Dumebi, Corny (2019) and Woman (2020) backed Sarz’s claims, sharing that he produced over 30 songs for an artist in 2016/17 without getting paid or credited.
“After watching Sarz talk about artists taking advantage of him, I remembered 2016/17 when I produced 30+ songs in 2 months for someone. Got paid for none. They dropped one track and I was begging just to be tagged on ig for ‘exposure.’ Still didn’t happen lol.”
DJ Kaywise also shared a similar experience with rapper Eldee The Don, who promised him a record deal in 2012 but didn’t follow through after Kaywise worked on 100 mixtapes.
“After seeing your tweets, I remembered in 2012 @eLDeeTheDon promising to sign me to his label… after I made over 1,000 mixtapes for him and his artists in my alaba days. Baba said @NOTJUSTOK would announce it after he signed @EvaAlordiah to the label. That was the first major industry lamba I ever got and that’s why I haven’t signed with any label since.”
These experiences have led some producers to choose independence, with DJ Kaywise saying it’s been beneficial for his career.
