Rayvanny on July 12, 2022, officially parted ways with Diamond Platinumz’s record label Wasafi after six years.
The Bongo singer expressed his gratitude to his former boss and recounted some of his highlights in Wasafi in an emotional tribute video uploaded on his social media.
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Rayvanny is the only artiste to leave Wasafi without any drama with the label. Other musicians were caught up in a quagmire when they left WCB.
The first drama that was witnessed when an artiste was leaving Wasafi occurred in 2018 involving Rich Mavoko.
Mavoko ditched WCB in 2018, two years after he terminated his contract with King Kaka’s record label, Kaka Empire in 2016.
The singer’s exit from Wasafi was a messy and noisy affair rather than a mutual one like what we saw with Rayvanny.
He expressed discontent with his contract, which he termed as “exploitative and malicious”.
WCB demanded Mavoko to pay the label Tsh500 million (Ksh23 million) to be allowed to terminate the contract with the label, but he stood his ground and declined.
Mavoko was bound by the contract he signed with Wasafi which required him to pay the label a compensation fee for leaving before his contract expired.
The tussle between Wasafi and Mavoko ended up at the Tanzania Music Regulatory Board, Basata, who helped both parties arrive at an amicable solution.
Rich Mavoko left without paying anything. What is not clear is if he still owns the rights to the songs he recorded under Wasafi.
In 2019, another drama played out at Wasafi after Harmonize demanded to leave the label before his contract expired.
Harmonize officially quit Wasafi in August 2019 after complaining about his contract. He had signed a 15-year contract with Diamond’s label.
The ‘Kwangwaru’ hitmaker decided to terminate the contract with WCB just four years after he felt he was no longer getting value for his output. He was forced to pay Wasafi Ksh24 million for ditching the label prematurely.
Harmonize was reportedly forced to sell his three houses and a piece of land to raise the Ksh24 million that Wasafi demanded for leaving the label before his contract expired.
He was forced to part with the full amount so that WCB could allow him full rights ownership to the songs he did under WCB (all of his songs at the time were recorded and produced by Wasafi).
Harmonize left Wasafi a bitter man and has been beefing with Diamond Platnumz to date, always antagonizing his former boss.
Related: “Respect My Baby Mama” Rayvanny Ruthlessly Destroys Wasafi Presenter Juma Lokole
