October 8, 2024

Nexdim Empire

Camer Entertainment House

Polemic: Why protesting against PSquare concert is pure mediocrity

It wasn’t surprising to hear  that some Cameroonian artists were planning to protest against the P-Square concert. Any keen observer and blogosphere fan must have seen the signs after the Akon concert. Back then some Cameroonians were angry that Cameroonian artists had been paid peanuts as compared to the payload handed to the American hiphop megastar. What has however been surprising is the calibre of people spearheading this march of shame. A veteran musician like Romeo Dika should know better than mislead aspiring musicians. The entertainment industry is a jungle where only the fittest survive and let’s be patriotic to the truth and admit it; our music hasn’t been fit for a while now. Mr. Romeo Dika should carry out a survey in Cameroon and see how many people know the title of his last album or can hum a chorus from any of the tracks on that album. For the entertainment industy, globalisation and the market economy system mean that our artistic products will have to compete with  those from outside. And if ours aren’t up to par then our artists will lose endorsements. If Mr. Romeo Dika and co. want to be paid a 100 million frs cfa to perform they should produce an album overflowing with intercontinental hits so that a company knows their brand will reach millions when they contract them. Endorsing an artist for such huge sums isn’t done out of sentiments. It is a business strategy in which the artist and company must both win. If any company was to give any of the protesting Cameroonian artist a 100 million frs to perform it will surely not get back its money worth. I know some people will talk of a company’s social responsibility but when you pay an artist such a sum,he/she benefits not the community. The mobile phone company shouldn’t give in to blackmail because if  it does, it will be encouraging mediocrity. Let our artists go to work so that one day a foreign company can give them millions to perform abroad. Mr Romeo and Co. should stop brandishing their mediocrity for the world to see. Let them go into their studios and produce songs that resonate across the continent and why not the world. Until they do this, they will come across as a mediocre bunch begging for handouts because they don’t have what it takes to survive in the tough world of entertainment. Are we together?