Richie: It hurts former signees aren’t hitting
The Lynx Entertainment brand seems to be the magic wand artistes need if they want to break through in the music industry.
Since the label’s head, Richie Mensah decided to put his music career on hold and take up a managerial role, he has had huge success with artistes like Eazzy, OJ Blaq, Asem, Ziggy and MzVee. Last year, he was responsible for the hitmakers, Kuami Eugene and KiDi whose songs we have been jamming to.
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It has not been all rosy though as he has lost some of his best signees like Eazzy, Asem and Ziggy but that’s not a big deal. What is surprising is the fact that some of the artistes who left the Lynx stables have not enjoyed the level of success they did with him.
And for Richie, it hurts him that his former acts have not been able to produce the hits like before. In an interview with Showbiz last Saturday, he said “it is actually my wish to see all the artistes the label has managed grow from strength to strength but the situation is not so and it hurts me.”
On why they don’t seem to capture attention like before, Richie explained that the Lynx team puts in so much that an artiste who feels he or she can do it on their own ends up failing after leaving the company.
He added that some of his former artistes were influenced by outsiders so they felt they could handle things themselves but it did not work out well.
Although artistes leaving labels is normal in the industry, Richie revealed that he feels bad when an artiste leaves Lynx.
“It is heart breaking to see your artiste leave the record label after intense sacrifice, promotion, shooting of video clips and everything. It feels like they didn’t appreciate the work you did and the record label has to start all over again with a new artiste,” he said.
However, he willingly allows an artiste who wants to walk to go because as he puts it, it will be difficult to work peacefully with such an artiste.
Although he has good relationships with some of his former signees, he would definitely not accept any of them back. “If an artiste works under my label and leaves there is no way I would accept him or her back.
Infact, one of my former artistes who exited years ago wanted to come back but I turned down the offer. I believe in building new brands and that is the talent God has given me,” he said.
“I have never managed already established artistes before because I want to help new talents and I am grateful the three artistes under the label are doing fantastic”, he added.
Due to the great work that the Lynx team is doing, Richie said he gets a lot of calls from artistes who want to join the label but he is reluctant to take on more because it will be burdensome.
Talking about the current artistes in his stables, Richie said he feels very proud of them because they are hardworking and very respectful.
“I almost wept seeing Kuami Eugene and KiDi pick their first awards at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards this year,” he said.