Cassper Nyovest Rejected R300K Sony Music Deal Advance To Keep His Masters: “We Wanted To Own Our Music"

• Rapper and entrepreneur, Cassper Nyovest, recently shed more light on his come-up story since arriving in Johannesburg early on in his career
• Cassper opened up about his earlier financial struggles and the hard choices he had to make to own his music
• Nyovest detailed his failed partnership with Sony Entertainment and the terms he was unable to accept despite the handsome advance he was offered

While still a budding rapper, a young pony-tailed Cassper Nyovest quickly blew up, to many people's surprise. His growing popularity attracted Sony Music South Africa, who drafted a deal for the rapper and offered an advance of just over a quarter of a million rand.

In a Secure The Bag panel discussion teaching financial literacy, Cassper detailed his decision to turn down the Sony deal despite having little to no money to fund his career.

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Cassper wanted to own the rights to his music

For decades, musicians have fought the ongoing battle of master ownership. Masters are the original recordings of a song or performance that copies are made from and later distributed to radios and music stores.

Cassper was influenced by the likes of Oskido and Jay-Z, who had the foresight to pursue independence and reject career-altering contracts. While under HHP's wing, Jabba secured Cassper a record deal with Sony that included an attractive R300 000 advance.

Among the conditions in the contract, Cassper was to hand over his masters to Sony and drop "Nyovest" from his name, saying Sony said it sounded like a swearword. He turned the deal down.

Cassper sought to work on his own terms

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Broke and without funds, Cassper took the step to open his own record label to ensure that he owned his music and worked on his terms.

With the help of TLee of Bridge Entertainment, Cassper established Family Tree. The money earned from show bookings and song plays funded his company and helped release his first studio album, Tsholofelo.

Mufasa took the road less travelled and it made all the difference

Artists are constantly pressured into making uninformed decisions to sign deals without thoroughly reading through and understanding their contracts and seeking guidance and advice.

In a recent report by Briefly News, Cassper celebrated his album Tsholofelo turning nine years old, on which he was blessed to work with late rapper, PRO. Nyovest also recently hit the studio with DJ Shimza.

Source: Briefly News