From the videos i've seen from former musicans of congolese groups most leaders do not pay the musicians hence why the truth comes out when a member leaves obviously the Nicodem's affair is blown out of proportion. I watched a interview of Patou Makela former member of ferre's group he insisted that Ferre doesn't pay them at all but in reality it isn't just Ferre. Werra, JB, Wazekwa, Fally and co. do not pay the musicians adequately I think a human right laws needs to embraced or even contacting Minister of Arts for this issue to be minimized largely, this issue has been going on for a long time!

I find it hard to accept that these musicians we see don't get anything from their bosses.
How come they have houses, big cars and travel to and from Europe on private visits.
Some of them have even become big, how do they manage to survive day to day? Look at Chikito for instance, check the way he looked when he first auditioned at Bandal 7 years ago even some of the chaps in Maison Mere, BCBG etc, we can see the difference. If they are not paid how come they've been stuck there?

From own experience they live on relations of mabanga's I've met many musicians who earn a good amount of money from mabangas (minimum wage) but not official payments coming from the group.

notice that the guys who go solo because they were not paid and so on do not pay their musicians either if we go by that logic
 and the ministy of culture is one of the reasons of the fact musicians are not paid
 if there was a true systerm of copyright,musicians would get money from that, and thats the money they are due
 the money from sponsors and so on is something else
the problem is also that when guys  join groups in most of the case they are very young,have no kids and are not carrying their whole family on their shoulders,then years after when they grow up they have bigger responsabilities so they need more mohey
 but i maintain that  if today government releases a law that there is no more matolo and money will only come from bosses,i bet whater you want  that those employees who complain a lot will destroy the prime minister's office
being a bit in "the industry", i can assure everyone here that concerts in kinshasa generate next to nothing,those grand hotel shows or hotel venus,hotel du fleuve are free for a vast majority of those who attend,otherwise they would  barely fill those halls,they just make sure halls are filled as it is good for their image
i am not talking about the past,but nowadays with the financial crisis
and then after concerts,musicians have massive and i mean massive taxes to pay to governament
 its a bit too easy to fault only the leaders,its a whole system which is badly organized
 another  reason of those money problems is the number of musicians in groups, bcbg and maison mere if we count every single member including dancers administration guys bodyguards  we are nearing 500 easily

and lets not forget that even leaders are  how they are  thanks to mabanga and  the other ways of getting money

Yeah you're right Congo is not a rich country were the citizens can come pay for concerts every day and there's like 30 leaders who have concerts. but I'm surprised the musicians of the leaders don't get a salary from the concerts....don't they get paid from album sales?

that's the fault of officers,who block that money for themselves
and like i said earlier concerts are not generating that much money,and as the result from  all top artists,only koffi and fally are not depending week in week out from sponsors
 and also lets be honest, what they really get  from concerts can barely pay 10 musicians and satisfy them totally because except vip concerts and concepts like mayi ya pembe, concert tickets are  you pay one or two primus or skol and you get a seat,and that money goes to bralima and bracongo
that's why europe concefts were so important for congolese musicians
 the fact no musician has treated his musicians better than his former employee speaks a lot about how difficult the system is,even though for theiir promotion they show only the nice side on tv
it looks simple from the outside,but i think in order to satisfy their musicians, leaders would need to pay them with their personal money and not the group income(which are two different things if we take all parameters into account)
i think this is where frustration comes from with band members,they see leader having nice life  and they think its only directly due to music,concerts cds and so on, and that leaders are just motema mabe,whereas most of the money our leaders get are due to their personal image and their business outside music(or the mabanga business aswell)
 

album sales directly go the record label in terms of congolese music the producers, musicians make money from tours, concerts, mabangas and bralima's as archos stated

Europe/Canada/USA/Australia concerts need to come back because you can't play concerts in a country where people can barely afford a loaf of bread and you don't get much of a profit....the combattants really need to stop with the ban. 

maybe the 5000 dollars he was offered got on his head

5000$ its nothing

You think so.......5000 USD in Zambia can buy you a reasonable plot of land....even 30 x30 ms of plot

Europe/Canada/USA/Australia concerts need to come back because you can't play concerts in a country where people can barely afford a loaf of bread and you don't get much of a profit....the combattants really need to stop with the ban.

...Maybe Europe coz the last shows by JB and Fally in NYC only had 50+ in attendance with less than 1/3 Zaireans. And this was before the combattants, Kester's shows were so bad that even NY or Jersey wouldn't take the risk; Zaireans in the States just don't come out to support secular musicians...

archos I thought that Bralima and Bracongo pays these musicians when they have local concerts? So does it mean that those bossy people I see in those VIP concerts don't pay much? Aaaaaaa!!! now I understand how hard it is to make money in music especially in Congo. Kenya has not been much known musically but I can say that its musicians are now getting a lot of money even more that the powerhouse musicians like the Congolese get. The corporate in Kenya is now paying one musician up to that 5000 dollars for a 2hr show or even just to be a Master of ceremony and take note that this is a single musician without a band. So to hear that Nico is paid 5000dollars to leave Ferre, then I say there is a problem up there. And again music industry in Congo is so overcrowded that you can be paid anything if you don't want then you're told to just leave as your replacement will be on the touchline.