The Herald (South Africa)

Industry giants don t care about artists, Dana says ’

- Deepika Naidoo

Artist Simphiwe Dana took to Twitter in a rant about the music industry, saying that industry bosses would not do what was in the best interest of their artists.

Dana’s observatio­ns were sparked by singer Makhadzi’s situation.

Makhadzi shared with fans at the weekend that she allegedly did not make a cent off her latest album.

According to the Matorokisi hitmaker, who opened up in a tweet detailing her current financial struggles, her manager allegedly exploited her.

Fellow musician Dana sympathise­d with her and took the opportunit­y to call out the entertainm­ent industry.

In a scathing review of the SA music industry, the Usikhonzil­e hitmaker said that powerful members of their industry did not do right by them in this “dog eats dog” world.

“I hope this works out for you, sisi. I have no faith in anyone powerful and in charge of musicians doing the right thing by them.

“Still, it’s a wide, wide world.

Good luck.

“You are important,” Dana tweeted .

She followed up her statement by saying no matter how much the management was rooting for them, it was essentiall­y every singer for themselves.

“I have had many good people rooting for me in the music industry. Some of them bosses.

I’ve been highly protected in so many ways.

But I’ll tell you that the industry owners are always researchin­g ways to f*** you.

“Even your lawyers are sometimes bought or just plain not caring,” Dana said.

In the past, Dana has been vocal about the importance of artists ’ wellbeing.

Earlier this year, a few months into the lockdown, the star was one of the many artists who called out the department of arts and culture for not providing artists with Covid-19 relief funds.

Calling on minister Nathi Mthethwa to step up, she demanded that artists not be ignored by the department, because they had taken a huge financial hit this year.

“We need answers and to not be ignored by our department.

We haven’t made money most of this year,” she tweeted.

 ??  ?? SPEAKING OUT: Simphiwe Dana took to Twitter to call out the entertainm­ent industry for not caring enough about artists
SPEAKING OUT: Simphiwe Dana took to Twitter to call out the entertainm­ent industry for not caring enough about artists

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