Afrojuju originator, Sir Shina Peters has described signing of artistes under a record label as slavery.
He said that instead of signing artistes under their label and controlling their lives, label owners should help artistes and take a percentage of the artistes’ earnings.
Peters made this known in an interview with The Punch published on Sunday.
The veteran musician himself signed a 10-year contract with Sony Music at the age of 16, which attracted different lawsuits when he tried to leave the label while under contract.
Asked why he did not establish a record label to sign artistes, he said, “I have encouraged many artistes in my own little way and I backed them up with money too. Do you know how many Afrojuju artistes that we have in the country? I don’t need to sign artistes to a record company before I can be of help. I see that as slavery and it should be discouraged. If you think an artiste has potential, invest in him or her and take a percentage . I don’t understand why you are interested in controlling another person’s life.”
Speaking on his experience with Sony Music, he said, “I signed a 10- year contract with Sony Music when I was very young. When I got tired and wanted to leave , I was moved from one court to another. In a week, I could have three cases in court.”
When reminding that he was under contract at the time, he said, “If I were your child , would you have advised me to sign a 10-year contract ? I was naive when I signed the contract with Sony Music . I signed at the age of 16 and I was still a minor then. Though my father was my witness, he wanted me to be a doctor.”
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