Ntokozo “Ntosh Gazi” Soko has revealed that he received peanuts for his hit song, John Vuli Gate.
The song was released in 2020 and became a national anthem. In a recent interview on the Soweto Podcast, Soko claimed that John Vuli Gate was his intellectual property. But music duo, Mapara A Jazz, took the song and the money, he said.
Mapara A Jazz consists of two members, Leaonard Malatji and Mc Millan Nephawe.
Song was tribute to a friend
“John was one of our close friends and he’d done so much for us as upcoming artists. For this reason, I wanted to do something good for him. One day I was rehearsing in studio with Mapara A Jazz and a song, John Vuli Gate came into my mind. I started rhyming the chorus and Mapara A Jazz joined me. It was just flowing and everybody loved it,” he explained.
Soko said that the Mapara A Jazz duo gave him two months to release the song. They said if he didn’t, they would release it under their name.
He explained that he was not officially working with Mapara A Jazz but they were music colleagues.
“I had a team that was managing me. But unfortunately they did not believe in me or the song. And as a result, Mapara A Jazz took advantage and released it,” said Soko.
Lost copyright to the song
“The song became an instant hit locally and internationally. Within a short space of time, Open Mic approached Mapara A Jazz and signed them under their record label.
“Unfortunately, they also took my song with them. As a result all the copyrights were registered under Open Mic.
“I tried negotiating with Mapara A Jazz but they told me there’s nothing they can do since they had a contract with Open Mic. Eventually they started distancing themselves from me. They’d go to the interviews and leave me behind,” said Soko.
Song generated R15m
“I know that my song made about R15-million, but I received only R8, 000 in royalties. In fact, I had to fight for that money. They tried to block me from performing the song but I went ahead and performed it. This was my intellectual property and I wasn’t going to let them control me,” he continued.
Soko said it felt so bad because people would see him on television but he was poor.
“This happened when I was trying to find my feet in the industry, when I was trying to brand myself. But I made peace with it. I’ve decided to find other ways of making money,” he said.
He said that the experience has left a very bitter taste in his mouth but he has learned.
Sunday World tried to contact the music duo, Mapara A Jazz, but there was no response.
