Reggae and dancehall artiste Epixode (Theophilus Nii Arday) has opined that there’s no need for a record label if an artiste is financially stable to promote his or her music.
Despite the fact that Epixode is signed onto a record label in Ghana, he said being on your own in terms of music promotion is the best.
“If you are grounded financially, you don’t need a record label. Money is all you need to plug yourself into the main league,” he said.
“You can employ the services of experts to do your distribution, promotion and make yourself known within a short period of time. Paying to be on billboards and getting your songs on the streaming platforms is all due to money”.
“If you are an artiste and even naive about promotion or distribution, you can employ the best people in the industry to do it for you,” he noted in an interview with Graphic Showbiz.
Speaking about the disadvantages of signing onto a record label, Epixode said you did not get to keep the rights of your music when a label was in the picture, adding that you did not own the rights to your catalog.
He added that you are not 100 per cent in control of your craft where the record label redirects your path because they were looking at the business side of the deal.
Citing an example of a contract he once signed that he claimed almost ruined his career, Epixode said the contract stated that he could not miss a show regardless of his condition.
“I was told I cannot miss a show in whatever condition I was in. More so, I cannot do remixes of my songs after I end my years with them for the next 10 years”.
“The sad thing is, as a young artiste who might be enticed with a car or probably a house, it is very tempting, and one would be in a hurry to sign the contract, and you might do yourself a great disservice at the end of the day,” he added.
Recently, Kofi Kinaata disclosed that the promotion of music in the media is very expensive and that sidelines most artistes with very good songs.
This statement comes in line with Epixode’s comment on why it is the best option for financially independent artists to promote their songs without depending on record labels.
Epixode is known for songs like ‘Atia’, ‘Dear Me’, “Odeshi, ‘Jehovah’, ‘My Girl’, ‘Pray For My Enemies’, ‘Dutty’, ‘Gyal Dem Suga’, ‘and Whyne Ya Body’.