Entertainment

Singer Laika Invests Sh400K in a Song, Earns Peanuts

Published

3 years ago

November 15, 2019

Singer Laika’s return on the music scene has been met with some rather demoralizing business returns on her investment in a song.

Taking to Twitter Thursday, the ‘Mawenge’ musician shared a screenshot of an M-Pesa message showing the peanuts she earned from one of her songs. The text shows that she received a measly Sh45 from online music distributor Ngomma VAS.

To make matters worse, Laika also revealed how much money she invested in the song and it was nearly half a million.

The amount includes Sh40,000 for video shoot location, Sh200,000 for the video itself, Sh25,000 for the audio, Sh10,000 for makeup, an additional Sh60,000 for marketing, and a further Sh70,000 for a media tour.

This adds up to a cool Sh405,000. Laika, however, did not disclose which particular song, having released ‘Nimekusahau’ one month ago and ‘Mawenge’ three months ago.

The singer’s post sparked wild reactions from Kenyans on Twitter, some of whom opined that it is better to work at a construction site as a casual laborer, locally known as Mjengo.

This comes months after Laika revealed that she had quit music after falling into post-partum depression.

Read: Postpartum Depression Made Me Quit Singing, Says Laika

Below are some sampled reactions to Laika’s Twitter post.

Eeeh ?????

— Billy The GOAT (@Crazy_Nairobian) November 14, 2019

Heri mjengo ??

— kiverenge ⚪ (@kiverengejoseph) November 14, 2019

Hii ni kuambiwa enda utoe whatever you have. It’s very helpful ???

— LAIKA (@LAIKAKENYA) November 14, 2019

Walikutumia ya kutoa kwanza ??

— Wainaina (@KelvinWainaina_) November 14, 2019

Aki ???

— LAIKA (@LAIKAKENYA) November 14, 2019

Nitumie hio 45 niweke sababisha ya betika

— Plata O Plomo? (@Its_Cymmon) November 14, 2019

this country though

— Jamieson (@MulundaJamieson) November 14, 2019

Nunua tu bundles za 50 uingie youtube??

— King Cobra ? (@MulwaSidney) November 14, 2019

umetumiwa za kutoa hyo 13k??

— Shelby (@KoraKirimi) November 14, 2019

I can’t hear you buddy ?

— LAIKA (@LAIKAKENYA) November 14, 2019

As an artist nimelearn the money you put in won’t always be proportional to what you get out… Wasse wa gengetone wali make it na budget ya kama 5% of that
Music ni hard… Na bado kuna wasse wanataka tu kukukamua kwa industry juu upcoming artists wana kuanga cash cow ?

— Mwirigi (@MwirigiOfficial) November 14, 2019