By Ahmad Muto
Bruno K came out in August to pin Black Market Records, revealing that their contracts were framed more ‘according to the laws in Carlifornia, USA’ and that this made him nervous.
On Saturday, September 4, 2021, BMR’s Business Development Manager, Shadrack Kisame said it is true and argued that this is because, major music streaming platforms operate according to the laws of the United States of America and BMR being an American company, it is only fair.
He also added that as a label, they are not looking forward to pulling artistes off stage, but rather managing their content online by pulling them down if they breach their contract.
“Our artistes sign US contracts because all the rules governing the music streaming services like iTunes, Spotify, Tidal are all based on the US law. We are not going to pull an artiste off stage, but we can manage them online,” he explained.
Kisame also added that the reason Bruno K says he had a one year contract with them that ran from May 2020 – May 2021, but they insist he has a five-year contract is because theirs is pegged to content; 10 songs in 12 months. If an artiste does not deliver, their contract does not expire.
“We have a contractual period. We say submit 10 songs in 12 months which is the minimum recording period. If you have not submitted 10 songs, in that period, your contract stays on. So, it is not a time thing. We are saying Bruno K is still signed because he has not yet submitted his 12 songs.”
Angella Katatumba who is signed to BMR insisted that Bruno K signed a five-year contract only for Bruno K to storm her interview asking her to produce a copy of the contract she was talking about or stop discussing matters she does not understand.
Black Market Records is based in Sacramento, Carlifornia, USA with artistes from 25 countries, 18 of those in Africa. The other nearest office being Nairobi, Kenya.
