CHAPTER ONE:PAYMENT

Payment has always been one of the issues going through decades in our music,from the genesis of the modern era from after independance till today
in the peak of mobutu's zaire,some groups like ok jazz had some structure in which musicians had a payslip,with a legal social welfare ID and taxes deducted and some groups would pay from hand to hand,with no regular basis and for a most not an established fee as it depended of the income of the month and other factors that i will elaborate later in the topic
Then in the 90's came the era of koffi olomide and his quartier latin who wanted to give a "professional" aspect to his group and established a salary system,meant to be given automatically every month,regardless of income and activity,however it was not with payslips like the elders but rather in envelopes with names written on.
The structure of payment varies from one group to another,with quartier latin for most of its existence being the most regular on it on a monthly basis(which then evolved into every other month sometimes here and there but you'd get your two months in most cases),with for example groups like viva la musica,and most wenge musica offshots payment is a matter of "seasons",either every 3 month 6months or sometimes once in a year or cultura pays vie which adopted a bank deposit systeme from 2006/2007 to 2012(until the toxic brothers forced return to hand to hand random payment after reclaiming financial direction) and in some groups in general there is no payment at all.
The reason behind it is that even the groups who pay or "try to pay a bit" still consider that their groups are like a platform where with the success of the group,there is loads of people gravitating around the group either to fund the group as donors and gain back some fame,or just be around as "wealthy" fans musicians can get something from either by begging or by the own will of these people,with the permission or not of the leaders,which will also be elaborated later in this part.
Now,one of the main deep issues around the payment is the expectations/responsabilities/pressure lying on the shoulders of the musicians,and this raises two main factors which have a big influence.
The first being that the way the leaders grow along with their musicians,they always leave a gargantuan distance in terms of improving their financial life with their musicians,for the few groups were there is some payment even if your leader goes from nothing to becoming a millionaire what you agreed or what he is "willing" to give you never evolves,even if the contract the leaders are getting go up 10 20 times higher than in the past.
The second factor being the family and friends pressure,when you are in a big group,you are "forced" to have or pretend having a good lifestyle for the pride and honour of the group and this sends to your family and friends a very overestimated impression of your income so as soon as you make it a group and become one of the regulars,even your 40th aunt or the best friend of an uncle who saw you grow in the area are out there expecting and pressuring you to be ready to pay their children's school fees or solve emergencies like a children stuck in hospital with doctors refusing to treat until payment is complete and then also,ironically,the multiple women they have to date to try to get money from them or from their real husbands via them when they get them pregnant,it can happen that either the husband of the woman decides to leave her because of the cheating exposed or that the musician himself for his ego as a man wants to handle all the fees around the pregnancy(or simultaneous pregancies lol) on his own.
Therefore,with that and all he has to handle as responsabily altogether,the salary plus the outside money can always still be too short which in most cases will lead to strong upset leading towards musicians going solo or switching groups,or musicians living in pain for years or decades until it even is clearly visible on their physical appearance out of loyalty or never thinking of a plan b,or in some cases aswell musicians developping a strong addiction to casino poker and all sorts of betting games to try to cope with all that pressure

-some illustrative figures of the payment musicians ever received

i could not find or firmly remember some fully accurate information about in the peak zaire era with the zaire currency,so i will mainly talk about about the 90's and this century.
For example in quartier latin,there was/is salaries from 50 dollars a month to the record which was held conjointly by fally ipupa and savanet depitcho at 300 dollars a month,then fally got upgraded to 350 until ferre arrived and koffi had to put him on par with ferre's 400 to avoid trouble,then joss diena after their departure took over fally's 350
however with the dismantling of the very popular quartier latin,it gradually changed a bit a evolved towards a system when not everybody has a strict salary.
in clan wenge,in the 3 or 6 month configuration the highest earners were heritier and seguin who would take around 900 with some side bonuses then others would have a fee depending of their order of arrival or importance in the group,or some would not even get a look in as most of the money allocated is focused on the important members and also on the organised "stealing" from the staff
in cultura pays vie when the bank deposit system was started by us it was joss diena and gesac getting a 350 every other month,until a revolt started from ceden play who did not appreciate their salaries going up while their leader had just signed a 100k primus contract which lead to ceden leaving,then joss and gessac a year later
then came the fally ferre era where it mainly became  a per concert format where it evolved from 20 dollars in the very early starts then 50 then 100 and up to 250 for the higher up in the hierarchy,but it is also not always automatic,sometimes it is paid like that sometimes it is made like a pack after a certain number of concerts then you get not the exact sum as the chiefs and admins take a percentage,and then there is also periods of no salary at all as their leaders sometimes spend months in europe

-the rights and interdicts of musicians about payment

I will set the record straight away,musicians have ZERO right to claim something about their salary,and it is stated in the written rules of almost every group that the musicians have to accept what they get as officially or unofficially agreed or it is considered as a discplinary breaching.
In reality most groups dont even hand a paper of rules to the musicians but most are known in and around the group or passed by the elders to the newcomers.
For whatever reasons,a lot of leaders consider payment like a favor they are doing to musicians rather than their rights,so even the little almost symbolic "transport" fee after concerts and rehearsals is given or omitted depending on the mood of the leaders or their staffs as they are meant to be able to either beg donors on the phone or in person right at the rehearsal,or fans or friends
It is also important to add,about donorship,that the almost "dictatorial" power of leaders plays a big role,a donor attached to the leader has to give you money only if they give their green light,if you get money from them behind their back it can lead to lengthy suspension or even getting forced out gradually and even with the donors you bring in the groups it is the same.
Therefore,sometimes when musicians leave groups to go solo are it has become more and more common rather than joining other groups,most of the times their own donors go with them  to support them and in some cases the influence of the former leader being too big they stay with the big group and have to secretly sneak indirectly money to the new solo artists to avoid being in trouble in the big group
If you are lucky that leader loves you too much,if you raise the question of salary of money in rehearsal or even in private and it is reported to him,either him or the staff of the jesters will rip into you in public in order to send the message to others to not even dare,but then in private with either give some money or will send you towards a donor to appease your heart


 

topic updated,almost 1/3 of a year lol,holidays settings

Thanks @Archos for the write up.
So do all group members get transport money every other rehearsal day or it's only a select few. I am thinking that that's a big cost for the leader if he has to do that. But it would be cheaper if the group is much smaller even in terms of salary.

That's why I support musicians running away/remaining in Europe. It's a necessary evil. Because how can you survive on begging in Kinshasa.

The issue with our musicians back in Congo is that they don’t understand how the music business works. There’s a lack of information that’s why a lot of musicians get exploited. We have so much talent in our country but we don’t know how to copyright & protect ourselves. In the west we have companies & unions that fight for musicians rights. In Congo there is a lack of that. A lot of these musicians join these bands very young & they’re naive at the time, it’s only when they get to a certain age that’s when they realise that they’ve been exploited. Some musicians are aware that they’re getting exploited but they still stay because they love the status & perks that comes with being a part of a big band in Congo.

Thanks @Archos for the write up.
So do all group members get transport money every other rehearsal day or it's only a select few. I am thinking that that's a big cost for the leader if he has to do that. But it would be cheaper if the group is much smaller even in terms of salary.

That's why I support musicians running away/remaining in Europe. It's a necessary evil. Because how can you survive on begging in Kinshasa.

not everybody and not always either,musicians are meant to have sugarmommies or friends or donors willing to take care of that instead of most groups

The issue with our musicians back in Congo is that they don’t understand how the music business works. There’s a lack of information that’s why a lot of musicians get exploited. We have so much talent in our country but we don’t know how to copyright & protect ourselves. In the west we have companies & unions that fight for musicians rights. In Congo there is a lack of that. A lot of these musicians join these bands very young & they’re naive at the time, it’s only when they get to a certain age that’s when they realise that they’ve been exploited. Some musicians are aware that they’re getting exploited but they still stay because they love the status & perks that comes with being a part of a big band in Congo.

its the whole mentality of congolese people in general which causes that,i dont know if its due to the drastic downfall from prime zaire days,but 90 per cent easily of the congolese(and more precisely the kin ones who are the closest known worlwide) consider any job like a favor from their boss,so most are happy with it or being part of a clan in the company which has tactics to make some side money while having 20 months unpaid or stuff like that
and another factor i also relate to the zaire era is that a director of any sort of company has to be like some sort of semi-god who you owe everything to,if you claim your rights you are called ungrateful impolite and so on because people are used to be bullied
i dont think copyright system will ever work well in DRC for at least 3 other centuries,there has to be a complete cleanup of those who lived through that mentality before things really evolve,imagine there are groups where the leaders dont even talk to you anymore until they have orchestrated enough dirty tactics to get you fed up because he heard you received 2K from one of his top donors behind his back,if they think like that,automatically they think that the star soloist atalaku and co can never benefit from that through making a legendary generique for example so they'll happy take their own copyright money in europe and watch the copyright company remain a mess

I agree. It will take the whole society change in terms of mentality of all people for things to get better in all spheres of life.

Lol. So kozala musician na Kin, its a given that you have to have a sugar mummy. Even in groups ya temoign jehovah ya Wazekwa.

like baby ndombe says in private and one or two times in interview he thanks God every single dau to have never caught sexual diseases because the amount of sugar mummies he's had to date to afford lavish life like going back from europe tour with two three cars freight already paid and so on,he'd have probably already died especially as the women always insisted for raw in hope of being their baby momma,it used to be very cool from them "femme ya milieu" to be the baby momma of a star singer of a band

They should be praying to God coz its a miracle that most of them go out unscathed.

I remember Miel De Son saying we defended this movement (Maison Mere) because there are times when as an artist you have your last $100 but you are obliged to go out to the clubs and spend that money as if you have much just to show that the group is doing fine meanwhile you have unpaid house rent and all the other bills.

and if you watch those leaders rip into the whole group during rehearsal or reunion for not going enough to nightclubs and so on or bringing sugarmommies or those young escorts who chew money from politicians,you'd think they paid them a lot and  they did not respect the rest of their duties loool

It made me think about the moment when Serge Mabiala presented his sugarmom on tv 8:10 min

Excellent and insightful write up @Archos

It made me think about the moment when Serge Mabiala presented his sugarmom on tv 8:10 min

Vieux Masta Mfumu - the forum has missed you dearly. Glad to see you back

It made me think about the moment when Serge Mabiala presented his sugarmom on tv 8:10 min

Oh my Gosh welcome back Mfumu! We’ve missed you a lot.

It made me think about the moment when Serge Mabiala presented his sugarmom on tv 8:10 min

mpangiiiiiiiiiiiii enchanté de te voir,welcome back na palais

It made me think about the moment when Serge Mabiala presented his sugarmom on tv 8:10 min

Le grand retour!!!! I am very happy!