By Durrell Namasani
Music followers from Malawi and Zambia have been reacting to the news that Zambian singer Yo Maps has raised the amount of money that artists are supposed to be paying in order to feature him in their songs.
On Tuesday evening, Yo Maps’ manager, Dj Kandeke revealed that a feature with the artist will now costs over $10,500 which is equivalent to about 262,500 Zambian Kwacha or 18 million Malawi Kwacha.
The news has attracted mixed reactions from the music fanatics with some describing the charges as unreasonable while some believes that the music star deserves the new rates.
Reacting to the news, one music follower from Zambia Augustine Chikama said the charges are unreasonable and that this may affect the artist’s popularity.
“This is how artists get finished quicker than they started, no one in Zambia can manage that amount just for a feature. Remember that the more others are featuring him the higher he goes but in this case few people will manage,” he said.
Another music follower Sam Kalino wrote;
“In other words, he can’t sing with upcoming artists without backup.The problem is that when we get success, we forget where we came from.
However, some music lovers like Aubrey Mteteka seam to be having a different view as he believes that artists need to value their art like the way Yo Maps is doing.
He said; “Never underestimate the power of the art. He deserves it. _Munthuyi ndi olimbikira._
Aubrey Banda wrote; “Not bad coz he’s on fire so why not? And he knows his value. Full stop!
“It’s his tym, no disagreements on that, after all everyone can see what he has and is still doing. Africa as a continent is now being seen at far because of people like him,” wrote another music follower Mike Mwanza.
Brian Tuesday believes that the announcement has been made just to scare off upcoming artists as Yo Maps is now interested in artists who are already established who can help him increase his fanbase.
He said; “This is just to avoid upcoming artists I know he doesn’t charge that much to fellow big artists and I believe there are some bigger artists he features freely.”
Real-name Elton Mulenga, Yo Maps has been making headlines across the continent with his beautiful songs and he recently featured a Nigerian super star in a song titled ‘Confirmation’.
On Friday last week, South African music producer cum musician Master KG, described the Zambian musician as the Greatest Of All Times-G.O.A.T.
