As some of you may or may not know, I was scheduled to appear on Synergy twice last week. The first appearance was for an interview and performance on Jason's Synergy Wednesdays segment and the second was a full performance on Friday Nights live. This was the plan but things were thrown off course by some cellphone carrier cheese and I'm not talking about trouble with my phone.
For the Wednesday segment I performed the song "Stress" mainly in another attempt to get the video in Synergy rotation (I was unsuccessful but that's another story). The performance itself went well but problems arose because the last most compelling verse of "Stress" which I performed contained two apparently very damaging bars: "but ah try to reply but you know de style/ is no more credit from Bmobile". You can listen to the whole song below to get context.
Now the song is a storytelling track about university life and its stresses but the line in isolation was a problem because Digicel sponsored the show and apparently mentioning Bmobile is like saying Beetlejuice. No scene there. Wendell asked me if I was performing the song Friday and I said no since from long before I decided I would debut an entirely new track.
However, the debut wasn't meant to be. Friday around midday Wendell called and informed me that apparently word got to Bmobile about the performance and they were apparently toting over the fact that I said that my Bmobile phone had no more credit since that apparently is never supposed to happen and consequently it would be better that I don't perform in the said show since it was Bmobile-sponsored... dum dum dum.
Personally I don't feel no way about the whole situation. Carriers sponsor music programmes to photoshop their image and make people believe that they care about culture when their agenda is just one of promoting their brand to a target audience. I get that. I can get why Digicel would catch feelings. However, I can't understand why Bmobile would consider that line (when taken in context) offensive especially considering that it's a realistic situation. I've literally performed Stress over a hundred times and people who are hearing the track for the first time always go Destra for that line.
Since Friday, I've spoken with people on Facebook and they spout platitudes like "it's a business" and you have to "dress for success" and conform or whatever and while I understand where they're coming from, everyone especially artistes need to 'draw' their own line. This may come as a surprise to many but artistes don't get paid from Synergy appearances. I've made more money in profit from my first mixtape "Recession Music" as a 'nobody' than some artistes who have gotten radio play. My line comes in defending the integrity of my message for the sake of people who enjoy my music aka 'the fans' since they will outlive Synergy's tenure as the number one and currently only dedicated local music channel.
So in conclusion I would just like to also indicate that had they asked me not to perform "Stress" I would have complied. Had they asked me to perform the song but change the lyrics I would not have complied. And with the song being performed, with the cat already out of bag, I believe Bmobile shoulda just hold a burn since they didn't sponsor the segment and should have taken consolation in the fact that I wasn't going to perform the song in their segment. Everybody knows the network is shoddy anyway and the video for "Stress" has like almost 4500 views on youtube so if it was really carrier-kryptonite sufficient damage has already been done. And since they didn't hold a burn I will be using the experience as fuel for my upcoming mixtape Keep It Trini 2 (check the first one Keep It Trini). Face out.
12 comments:
Hey man. I'm sorry to hear about what happened with Synergy. To me, it's a lesson in the way corporates behave when dealing with their business and image. Too bad it was a lesson you had to learn at an unfortunate time.
In the case of Digicel, what I gather is that companies don't want to appear to be supporting negative views about their competitors, whether or not it is a reality. Bottomline, they don't want any lawsuit for their hands if the statement could be considered slander, or twisted by a lawyer to appear that way.
In the case of Bmobile, as it was a show sponsored by them, I guess they have every right to get Synergy to boot you off the Friday segment. Again, the line of your song could reflect the frustration of anyone with a Bmobile phone, but the line to them puts them in a negative light, and no company would want to appear to align itself with someone's negative view about them.
I think Synergy should have been aware of the lyrics for the song to then tell you not to sing it to prevent this sticky situation. But after all, shouldn't they have been aware if you were invited onto their Wednesday and Friday programs in the first place? So to me, whether or not you had that line in your song, Synergy should've done their homework properly. They clearly messed up in this regard, because they're the ones dealing with these companies as their sponsors. But for the next time, do keep in mind that whether or not some other media company didn't do their homework, and you weren't told before to edit the line or do another song altogether, you should still be aware that your words, reality or not, or joke or not, could be assumed to be offensive or damaging. Take Tracy Morgan with the horrible 'joke' about what he would do to his song if he were gay, although that is on a whole other level. It's just the way of the world and it's not going to change any time soon. And though, off the bat, I wouldn't agree with the way Synergy and company acted/ reacted, I would say to anyone in that kind of position that you are the first person in line to control the situation, as well as the first person who would be directly impacted by it.
I wish you better luck next time :)
@Kat Hennessy, how does saying that you have no more credit on your bmobile phone register as a line that can place Bmobile in a 'negative light'?
Honestly, it isn't an offensive line to me, but Bmobile thinks so, and it was their opinion in this case that mattered. I just hope you understood what I was trying to say after reading my (rather long) comment. I just feel that this incident made you (and me too) all the more wiser about how companies react to something as seemingly innocent as this. Anyway, this is all I have to say.
@Kat Hennessy, I can't say it made me wiser since Bmobile decided not to let me perform because I performed a song (not even in their sponsored segment) that they deemed offensive. Does not mean I should never again perform Stress since Bmobile may be watching to open myself up for future Bmobile opportunities? Is that wisdom? If so then I'll die a fool. Companies don't make artistes, fans do. When I have thousands of fans the same Bmobile will get amnesia and forget the whole incident.
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Thanks for the interesting interview
I am so sorry to hear that! However, it's too bad it was a lesson you had to learn at an unfortunate time. Probably, smart http://www.edit-ing.services/ can be of use if you don't have time for other things to do.
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