How Don Jazzy's Twitter Rants Exposed His Business Foolishness And Selfishness

As written by Ms. Uduak Oduok who is an
Entertainment Attorney
I began writing, yesterday, about the recent
potential legal drama between Don Jazzy
and Wande Coal to discuss the alleged
claim of Intellectual Property theft and legal
issues present, which I will still do, albeit
on a different post. However, while writing,
I just got tired, like really tired of the state
of the industry and the foolishness being
served of late.
Eyin Nigerian artists eti su mi, really (you
Nigerian artists make me weary, really).
Sheesh. Y’all can be off the hook, many
times. You’ve got a grown man and so
called boss for that matter such as Don
Jazzy displaying foolish behavior of the
highest order on twitter; and crying about a
problem he created in the first place.
What are we supposed to do Don Jazzy?
You are the business man, you also should
have some scars to show from the epic
Mo’Hits fallout/ dissolution that you “get
it.” Didn’t you at least learn something from
that? What’s good? I really tiyah, for real.
ON A DAY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALL
ABOUT TIWA SAVAGE’S RELEASE OF HER
SONG ‘EMINADO’(Goodluck charm)
featuring Don Jazzy, Don Jazzy totally
pooped on that parade and brought the
bad luck charm by undermining Tiwa
Savage’s shine with his silly cries on twitter
about an alleged theft by his former artist.
Are Wande Coal and Don Jazzy mates? What
rubbish?! Why is Don Jazzy, the egbon
(older one and adult) and most importantly
the boss getting on twitter and stooping
down to this kind of level as a business
owner and leader in the industry? It is
embarrassing and unacceptable. It also is
ridiculous because from the facts, HE
CREATED THE PROBLEM.
How can you not have your split sheets in
place as a producer? I don’t care if the
artist is your mother, father, sister, brother,
girlfriend, wife, gay partner or what have
you. You get that in place!
How, at this point in your career, do you
get into a studio with your artist and not
delineate the lines on who owns what? If
you made music under Mavin Records, the
music belongs to Mavin, if you signed the
proper legal documents evidencing this
basic arrangement. You’ve got the sound
recording belonging to Mavin. The lyrics
and composition also probably belong to
Mavin, at least a large portion, given the
kinds of agreement I see artists sign with
labels in Nigeria with certain aspects in
music publishing that differs from us here
in the States, so why are we even here?
You clearly did not do this because Wande
Coal can produce the original demo song
of which he co-authored with you; with no
delineation of those rights spelt out. Are we
suppose to cry or be sad for you? Why?
As Wande Coal correctly indicated in his
tweet, Jazzy has Coal’s phone number and
contacts and could have easily contacted
him to resolve the dispute, privately. He did
not do so. Instead, he chose to follow an
impulsive, selfish and egotistical act on
twitter that instantly shifted the attention
from the release of Tiwa Savage’s beautiful
‘Eminado’ video, all in less than twenty
four hours, to a showing to the world that
Nigeria’s music industry and its leaders
have no focus, no direction and is a big
joke.
When was the last time you saw any of the
label heads in the USA, including Jimmy
Lovine, Diddy and even Kanye West get on
twitter to fight artists who allegedly steal
their work?
Okay. Hold up. Wait a minute. Don Jazzy, if
you are invoking the law and claiming
infringement of your “intellectual property”
what exactly are we doing on twitter? That’s
all legal speak which means lawyers get
involved to either help work things out and
get you compensated on some licensing
deal, for the sampling or explicit copying of
your work, or we get into the courtroom.
What are we doing on twitter?
I am truthfully exhausted with the
frequency/rate of foolishness coming out
of the industry from leaders and industry
professionals at large. It is alarming and
you should be worried about the state of
this music ecosystem, if you care both
about your country and music, in general.
This is unacceptable.
Don Jazzy owns Mavin Records. Tiwa co-
owns 323 with T-Billz. Shouldn’t Don Jazzy
at this point in his career know that he
undermines the marketing and selling of
Tiwa Savage’s song with this foolishness?
What’s the brand partnership agreement
they signed? Anyone have a copy because
there should be a clause preventing this
kind of behavior. Yes, I am really tired with
the foolishness.
Our industry is just looking a big mess and
very silly to me right about now. We look
foolish both locally and internationally. We
act silly with our business ventures, we are
very reactionary on social media, we let
egos get in the way, from the likes of Jason
Njoku to his ex-CEO Michael Ugwu. Y’all
didn’t think that I thought Ugwu came with
clean hands did you? He was one of the
first shouting on AML, right here, when I
questioned the rapid jump and growth of
IROKO into the music market under
IROKING, about how I was dead wrong and
all the m/billion page views IROKO received
blah, blah.
Well, what happened? Ugwu was the CEO of
IROKING, and he did not deliver. That was
his terrain. Granted Jason Njoku’s
egotistical self got in the way and he
released the foolish press release that
created what has to be the worse PR and
disgraceful employer/employee and pr fail
ever for a new brand; but nevertheless,
what the heck? IROKING is being scrapped
under Ugwu’s watch as CEO. What
happened to all the “b/million” views et al.
Ugwu had a responsibility to also deliver.
Have y’all heard of Chinedu Echeruo? The
Nigerian-American who created HotStop in
New York and this year allegedly sold the
company to Apple for $1Billion? For all the
years Echeruo helped build and operate his
company,you never heard the fella display
the kind of ego that he should arguably
display. As he said, he checked it at the
door, and today, we all point to him as a
shinning example of what a successful
Nigerian owned business and entrepreneur
should look like.
Can we all take a page from Echeruo i.e.
have a healthy dose of humility, get your
entertainment business in order and have
even more humility? Who said it would be
easy? Practice!
Our industry was exciting, fun, young and
filled with so much hope but in less than
two years, it looks a shamble. From 9ice,
Mo’Hits, Knight House, Storm 360 to eLDee
(I am unsure why everyone keeps leaving
Trybes Records, including Sarz, of late),
EME, to Chocolate City and so many other
labels in between, you gotta ask, what the
heck is going on? Our creativity is at an all
time low and we spew nonsense both on
our airways and in our music videos
thinking we can sustain this industry with
the mess. Industry, what’s really good? Is
this it? Like are we for real? Many of you
who read AML are industry leaders. What’s
really good, leaders? Seriously?
Artists walking out on label and
management deals like they are visiting red
light districts for one night stands, labels
with no basic music business skills
promising artists heaven and earth and
getting screwed, plus left with heavy debts
to deal with, diarrhea on twitter from
industry heads and professionals who
should know better as a means to resolve
their legal issues and the list goes on.
Common folks, give me a freaking break!
We want to be like the West, yet we lack the
common sense to set the legal precedent
and have our Nigerian courts determine
legal issues that can move our society
forward; to ensure the sustainability and
success of our industry. Jesus, what’s with
this foolishness? Really? Why do we as a
community of business owners and
industry professionals keep choosing to
display juvenile behavior on social media
platforms that really undermine the
industry; and also affect our sister
industries like fashion and film?
We are now at an age where the young
ones look up to us and WE MUST respect
ourselves with our dealings in front of
them and with them. The baton has passed
on to us and we are doing a terrible job as
it stands with how we carry on with the
business of music and resolving our issues.
If we have issues with our young ones,
then sort them out privately because if we
can’t respect those behind us, guess what,
they won’t respect us either and what lies
ahead will not be pretty for us.
I, for the life of me, have no idea why we
are even here. Can anyone tell me? Oh! Don
Jazzy says Wande Coal stole his song from
him. Don Jazzy at every step of this
particular brouhaha clearly failed to protect
the alleged rights stolen, which is
unacceptable from a seasoned
businessman, artist and music producer
WHO WAS THE LABEL BOSS FOR A YOUNG
MAN THAT HAS WORKED WITH AND
LOOKED UP TO HIM FOR HIS ENTIRE
CAREER! But, oh! We are suppose to cry
with him on twitter. Because why?
Oh! And don’t get me started on COSON,
MCSN and all the other entities adding to
the current foolishness in the industry.
*Sigh* I’m tired from all the foolishness.
Sheesh.
-Uduak
http://africamusiclaw.com/don-jazzy-v-
wande-coal-can-the-foolishness-coming-
out-of-nigerias-entertainment-industry-its-
leaders-stop-already-entlaw/

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