Singer Bebe Cool has dropped a bombshell on the booming culture of artists holding mega concerts at Kololo Airstrip.
He claims that many musicians are spending heavily to look successful while walking away with little or nothing in profits.
According to Bebe Cool, the huge crowds witnessed at Kololo can be misleading because the money collected at the gate is quickly swallowed by the enormous costs of putting together a concert.
He argues that an artist can attract 20,000 revelers paying Shs20,000 each and collect about Shs400 million, but after spending hundreds of millions on venue hire, advertising, production and other logistics, very little remains.
I know they don’t make money, surely. Because it doesn’t make any sense having 20,000 people paying Shs20k and you’re getting Shs400m–Shs500m after spending Shs200m–Shs300m. They don’t make money.
The singer revealed that he understands the economics of big concerts because he was among the early artists to stage shows at Kololo and later moved to Serena Hotel, where he discovered that a smaller but more financially targeted audience could be more rewarding.
Bebe Cool recalled that although he could attract between 10,000 and 15,000 people at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds, the money left in his hands was surprisingly little.
I was getting 10k to 15k people at Kyadondo that time, but after one week, I was always broke.
He said his fortunes changed when he stopped chasing massive crowds and instead introduced a table-based model at Serena.
I organized into tables and got 2k people in Serena but saved Shs150m after the show. In Kyadondo, I got 15k people and saved the most money, Shs28m.
He has consequently urged young artists to stop competing over venues and crowd numbers simply to prove their popularity.
There is no need for them to go for these venues. There is no need for them to prove.
The veteran musician further challenged artists to start treating music as a serious business and embrace the economic transformation agenda instead of measuring success by the number of people squeezed into a concert venue.
He also questioned why some musicians continue charging as little as Shs20,000 for major concerts despite the huge investments required to stage them.
I’ve never done a show of Shs30k or Shs50k and guys are still holding shows of Shs20k. When will you ever make money?
Bebe Cool’s remarks are likely to reignite debate in Uganda’s entertainment industry over whether mega concerts at expensive venues are genuinely profitable or merely a show of financial muscle and popularity.
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