‘No fee’ performance deals must benefit artists – BullGod

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bullhaus Entertainment, Lawrence Nana Asiamah Hanson, popularly known as BullGod, has weighed in on the issue of artists performing for free at events.

Although he believes artists cannot charge for performing at every event, he also believes that such deals must bring some value to the artiste in the end.

“I will allow my artistes to perform at a show for free when it is beneficial to them,” he said in a Twitter Spaces conversation by Joy Entertainment on Friday, February 17, 2023.

Making reference to Shatta Wale turning down a performance at the 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards over fee payment, BullGod said there may not have been opportunities available to project the artiste beyond the performance on stage at that time, a reason Shatta Wale declined the offer given him by the organizers of the awards.

“Today, you can say that if Vanilla comes on and performs for free he will go global and might get global presence and translate into other opportunities that will come to them,” he stated, acknowledging the current change in the promotion of events as a result of the amplification of new media.

“So until this era, you ask yourself what are the benefits for this artiste and that is the first thing any artiste manager or team would ask. Once they look into the benefits and they know that it will go a long way to elevate their craft, it will open new doors for them, it will take them places that ordinarily it will take a while for me to get there, if you check all the boxes and it makes sense to you and you don’t jump on, then it might be a no-brainer,” he added.

BullGod said most time, some artists and event organizers are not able to reach an agreement on ‘no fee’ deals due to a lack of communication.

He also dispelled the notion that Ghanaian artists don’t understand the idea of performing for free.

According to him, the artists usually perform at each other’s shows for free, indicating they are ready for such deals.

He further indicated that it was high time people in the industry took the matter more seriously and found ways of making artists and event organizers reach mutual agreements in such situations.

BullGod has managed artistes like Iwan, 5Five, Nii Soul, Yaa Yaa, Natural Face, VIP, Koo Ntakra, Rudebowy Ranking and Shatta Wale.

He is currently the manager for Vanilla who is out with a new song titled ‘Ewo.’

Source: Kwame Dadzie