SA musicians who suffered exploitation

Exploitation has plagued the entertainment industry so badly that musicians are careful about the different offers given to them.

Over the years, we’ve heard music artists lament about music companies’ manipulative deeds just to dry them out and abandon them.

A record label, Ambitiouz Entertainment has tainted her company due to the consistent complaints from her former signees.

Below are musicians who have suffered exploitation in the South African music industry.

LADY DU

In 2022, the Amapiano star cursed her manager for being dubious.

“My manager is telling people I’m unavailable for bookings. He says he doesn’t work on weekends and doesn’t pay me on time. Mind you I don’t work for him he gets paid off my bookings!!! He has started taking cash from promoters; I’m in hell guys, I’ve been crying everyday nje,” she tweeted.

However, she’s better now as she’s dumped the manager and she is currently focused on building herself and her finances.

NOMCEBO ZIKODE

Nomcebo calls out Open Mic Productions for being dubious. She waged war against the music company for over a year due to her collaboration with Master KG, on the song, Jerusalema. The song caused a huge breakthrough for KG in 2019 and it is currently sitting on over 500 million streams. Nomcebo said she wasn’t paid a dime from the song, despite the huge siccess garnered.

BLAQ DIAMOND

Blaq Diamond took their former record label, Ambitiouz to court after the label tried deleting their music from their YouTube channel and all distributing platforms. In June, they won against AE, which was a major celebration for the duo.

MAKHADZI

The Ma Gear hitmaker calls out Open Mic Productions for being exploitative in May 2023. The label renewed her contract without her permission, and she revealed that she didn’t get a dime from all the sales made in the company. The update given was that the singer took the company to court and she launched her own record label.

EMTEE

Emtee revealed how he was exploited by Ambitiouz Entertainment; the label left him dry after his exit, and the awards won was not given to him.

ZAHARA

The singer was also exploited by her former record label, TS records. She didn’t get royalties for her song and it reportedly made her hit rock bottom.