A week ago, Diamond Platinumz was the talk at the Kampala Capital City Carnival because he was paid a whooping Shs156m. Some Ugandan artistes threw tantrums. Many are still making noise about it.
Let’s get some facts straight.
Diamond Platinumz, a week to the Ugandan show had released his song with Morgan Heritage, a legendary reggae group from Jamaica. The song titled Hallelujah so far has 5.5 million views on YouTube. We’ve also learnt that the Tanzanian musician has a project with Rick Ross and the video is being shot and directed by Moe Musa in South Beach, Miami. Remember, he also has one with Neyo (Marry You) that is still dominating airwaves.
Diamond makes these collaborations look easy to get, yet our very own musicians struggle to pull them off. Some achieve the dream but we never get to listen to the songs while others promise to release projects with those international artistes which never materialise.
Yes we can agree that Diamond didn’t have the best of concerts in Uganda but his brand and legacy is way up there. He has won international reputable awards like AFRIIMA, Channel O, MTV Europe Music Awards and MTV Africa among others. In total, he has over 40 awards to his name and right now, Diamond is one of the biggest acts in Africa. Miles ahead of our musicians who claim it was not right for him to be paid that amount.
Having started his career in 2009, it’s really absurd to compare his achievements to that of the rest of East African musicians.
So the advice to our artistes is that instead of beefing or criticising Diamond, they should emulate what he’s doing. Be humble, build a brand, invest in good audios and videos, have a legacy, get good connections, carry yourself well, have a price tag and most importantly have quality work that speaks for itself.
