Built by labels, broken by greed: Reflections of the “Son of Jacob”

EVERY star begins in the dark. Not the romantic darkness of mystery, but the practical one where dreams echo louder than applause. Before the lights, before sold-out shows and borrowed confidence, there is usually a cramped room, a tired microphone, and belief held by very few people. Sometimes by only one.

In Ghana’s music industry, that believer is often a record label.

The label finds an artiste when they are invisible to the public, financially empty, and surrounded by doubt. No fan base. No leverage. No bargaining power. 

This moment is often described as scouting, but that word does not quite capture the risk involved. It is faith mixed with uncertainty. It is choosing to bet on potential before the numbers make sense.

 Faith, Contracts, and Quiet Sacrifice

The label offers the artiste a contract, it is signed in haste and often without proper legal advice on the part of the artiste. Contracts are imperfect and sometimes poorly understood by artistes, but the intention is clear. We will build you.

Money flows into studio sessions, branding, photoshoots, music videos, radio promotion, publicity, grooming, media training, travel, accommodation, and sometimes basic survival. For years, the label bleeds quietly while the artiste shines loudly. The public sees the glory. The label absorbs the cost.

This is how stars are manufactured in an industry that survives more on passion than profit.

 When the Music Finally Hits

Then it happens.

The songs catch on. The voice becomes familiar. Crowds sing along. The once silent phone becomes a constant companion. Media houses suddenly discover the talent they previously ignored. Interviews are requested. Awards are mentioned. The artiste becomes known, then celebrated, then crowned a star. Sometimes a superstar.

With fame comes access. With access comes attention. And with attention comes a new family.

 A family of Industry Experts

This is not the family that stood by the artiste when shows paid in exposure and transport refunds. This is a new family that arrives after success has settled in.

Friends who always believed. Cousins who suddenly understand contracts. Uncles who know people in the industry. Advisers whose expertise begins and ends with jealousy. They gather around the artiste, whispering advice wrapped in concern and ambition.

Their words are predictable.

You are being controlled.

The label is cheating you.

You are bigger than this.

If it were me managing you, you would be richer.

Almost overnight, everyone becomes an industry expert.

 From Partner to Villain

Slowly, the narrative changes. The record label, once a saviour, becomes a villain. The structure that once provided discipline is now called bondage. The contract that funded the rise is described as oppression.

The artiste begins to see themselves not as the product of partnership, but as a prisoner of circumstance.

Rebellion follows.

Schedules are missed. Calls go unanswered. Studio sessions are postponed. Label staff who once worked day and night become enemies or potential recruits. The artiste begins attending meetings alone, building private connections, cutting side deals, and quietly planning an exit long before the contract allows it.

What is often described as self-discovery is, in many cases, self-destruction.

 Exit Strategies and Historical Revision

Some artistes walk away while contracts are still active. Others wait until contracts expire but leave with bitterness instead of gratitude. Few revisit clauses signed in ignorance but binding in law. Even fewer acknowledge the financial and emotional debt owed to the institution that built them.

Instead, history is rewritten.

It is rewritten in interviews, on social media, and in quiet conversations with younger artistes. The pity card is played skillfully. Fans, emotionally invested and fiercely loyal, side with the star without hesitation. The label, faceless and largely silent, becomes the convenient scapegoat.

 The Ghanaian Music Business Reality

This is Ghana.

This is what it means to run a record label in Ghana.

It is an ecosystem where passion is mistaken for weakness, where investment in human potential is punished, and where gratitude expires quickly. It is a system that has watched labels bleed, break, and eventually give up, not because they lacked vision, but because sustainability became impossible.

So labels adapt or they escape.

 When Music Stops Making Business Sense

Some labels transform into headset manufacturing companies (Lynx Entertainment). Others pivot into packaged gari (Bandex Music), bread production (Last Two), slippers (Easyway Music Production), or radio stations (Despite Music). 

These are businesses with tangible products, predictable margins, and fewer emotional betrayals. Businesses where contracts are respected because goods do not wake up famous and decide they are bigger than the factory.

Music labels fold not because Ghana lacks talent, but because the industry lacks trust.

 The Cost of a Broken Ecosystem

The consequences are severe. Investors hesitate. Local capital retreats. The industry becomes unattractive to serious long-term funding. Into this vacuum step multinational corporations whose primary interest is profit, not cultural development.

They extract value, export revenue, and leave little behind in infrastructure, education, or cultural preservation. An industry once built on nurturing now risks becoming one of pure exploitation, ironically the very thing artistes once accused local labels of being.

 What Must Change

This cycle of greed, selfishness, and ignorance must be checked.

Artistes need structured education before contracts are signed, while contracts are active, and after success arrives. Understanding rights, obligations, royalties, and long-term consequences should be mandatory, not optional.

Industry bodies such as MUSIGA, GAPI, GHAMRO, alongside record labels, must collaborate to create standardised education programmes, contract templates, and dispute resolution mechanisms. This knowledge should be practical, accessible, and continuous.

Labels must also evolve. Transparency must become policy, not privilege. Clear accounting, regular communication, and documented expectations can reduce suspicion and misinformation. Silence only fuels speculation.

 A Way Forward for the Industry

The Ghanaian music industry needs balance. Artistes must understand that independence without structure is chaos, and freedom without accountability is fantasy. Labels must understand that power without fairness breeds resentment.

Government and private stakeholders must see music as an economic sector, not a charity project. Incentives for local investment, tax reliefs for creative businesses, and enforcement of intellectual property laws can restore confidence.

Most importantly, memory must return to the industry. Success should not erase origins. Stardom should not rewrite history.

 Not Every Star Survives the Light

Every star begins in the dark.

But not every star survives the light.

Until greed is tempered by gratitude, selfishness by perspective, and ignorance by education, Ghana’s music industry will continue to eat its own. Bright talents will keep being swallowed by the very success they once prayed for.

And the silence left behind will not be musical.