$60, 000 contract mess : Kiss Daniel, step up your game’-Laface
Talk about show and event promotion in Nigeria and Africa and one of the names that readily comes to mind is Laface. The entertainment guru and renowned show promoter recently shared his thoughts with tonyogaga.com on the saga trailing star singer, Kiss Daniel and his manager, Steve Uwa following his ‘refusal’ to perform at a show in Tanzania which was widely publicised after being a paid a whopping $60, 000.
Preamble
In case you don’t know the full story of what transpired, here is a recap.
The Kiss Daniel Tanzania saga started when he ‘failed’ to perform at a show in Tanzania after being paid a whopping $60, 000.
Indeed, it was shock for many as music fans just couldn’t wrap their minds around why an artiste would be paid such a huge sum and yet refuse to perform.
Before we could say Jackie Robinson, the rumour mills began to spin, churning out strange tales that the reason KD refused to perform was that he was not wearing his gold chain which ‘conspiracy theorists’ quickly linked to ‘his links with a secret society.’ No thanks to Steve Uwa who started it all.
According to the purveyors of this tale, he risked losing his brand and career if he did not perform with the chain dangling around his neck as the said secret society would pull the plug on his career.
Below, Laface shares his thought.
“It still baffles me and sincerely, I find it very difficult to believe the inuendoes surrounding it to say the least. As a legendary international promoter and an astute professional, it is believed that he who hears a one-sided story could not have confirmed the true version of the real story and the underlying factors.
I have therefore taken my time to properly analyse and review the story from both ends viz-a-viz Kiss Daniels and our fellow Naija brother, the promoter Stephen Uwa.
Both parties have brands to protect with KD obviously the globally acclaimed brand.
Going into the crust of the matter as stated by KD’s brother and road manager, Folu, and finally agreed to by Uwa, all the terms of the contract were adhered to on KD’s part. There was even an added clause that the gig could be rescheduled in case of situations beyond both parties' control. KD did not book the said flight tickets on the flight that was delayed for eight hours in Kenya, the promoter himself did.
There was also constant communication between both parties for possible solutions all through the eight hours delay. The cry that KD refused to perform because of his chain was totally false as he (Uwa) finally grudgingly attested.
The challenge for KD's team was caused by the show promoter’s inability and non-adherence to the technical rider deliverables as agreed. It is very obvious that Mr. Uwa is a rookie promoter from all indications.
An experienced promoter basically knows that 'Promo 101' basically states that no professional artist is obligated to perform with sub-standard equipment which will affect his performance and ultimately his brand. Consequently, the need for a technical rider must be adhered to, failure which automatically puts the show in jeopardy which was what happened as he (Uwa) finally agreed publicly.
At a point, after endless pleas by Uwa, KD even decided to take the risk to the detriment of his brand to manage the sub-standard equipment but at this point, all hell had broken loose at the venue so there was virtually nothing he could do to salvage the situation.
Steve Uwa, in his quest to get attention and save his business and career in East Africa I will say from experience, colluded with some bad elements in the Tanzanian Police Force and decided to make KD the fall guy by throwing him under the bus and coming on with the ‘chain story’ which created attention and sympathy for him.
When the chips were down, Folu confronted Uwa on the major reason for the crisis. Uwa had nothing to say but that an agreement has been reached by both parties and that it was imperative to move on.
There were also issues around a sum of 4000USD used to purchase flight tickets meaning, KD was not fully paid the $60000USD as earlier claimed by Uwa.
From experience, flight tickets are never part of an artist’s fees. This resulted in issues between the booking agent, Paulo and KD on the one hand and Uwa and Paulo on the other hand.
KD is a young and very talented brand as proven over the years and he must learn from this saga that there is a very thin line between love and hate.
Going forward, KD and his team need to step it up by drawing up a more detailed performance contract where technical rider requirements must be completely adhered to as a precondition to any contract. The issue of agreeing to fund expenses when and if the gig is postponed is not advisable. The need for an escrow account with two representative lawyers becomes imperative.
It is advisable to always get to a continental gig a day earlier leaving room for flight delays or better still, engage the use of private jets where the schedule is crazily tight.
In conclusion, the implication of this saga is that the KD brand has taken a very bad PR knock due to no fault of theirs.
KD and his team have the enormous task of creating a PR campaign to ameliorate the situation as it's very difficult to change people's perceptions once the narrative is out there. KD I must state is a great ambassador for the Nigerian entertainment industry and I implore him to continue propagating Nigerian music globally but be very wary of rookie promoters
My sincere regards must also go to my brother and friend, Daddy Freeze for the role he played in getting the truth out there. Great job bro!
Long live the Naija entertainment industry. Long live the Kiss Daniel brand.
