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Yeni Kuti Reveals How Much American Label Wanted To Buy Fela’s Catalogue
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Yeni Kuti reveals how Fela Kuto refused to sell his Catalogue to an American Label that offered a high price for it.
Yeni Kuti, the first child of the legendary Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti, spoke candidly about how an established American record label expressed interest in buying her father’s back catalogue.
In a recent interview, Yeni discussed the sacrifice Fela made for his kids when Motown Records, one of the biggest record labels in America, knocked on his door offering a whopping $1 million to purchase the back catalogue of the Afrobeat pioneer.
The music an artist has previously recorded and released, as opposed to their most recent recordings, is referred to as their back catalogue.
According to Yeni, Fela turned down that lucrative offer so that his children could continue to benefit from his music after his passing. This decision is still in effect today.
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The 61-year-old Yeni Kuti also made it known that even after Fela’s death, labels still approached the family to acquire the legend’s music catalogue, but the family continued to stand by Fela’s initial decision.
In her words;
“Just before Fela dies, we were talking, so Motown had come in, and they wanted to buy all, everything in his back catalogue for a million dollars and Fela was broke. So it was very tempting to sell your back a catalogue for a million dollars and you won’t have a problem. But Fela looked at them, he said to us, and that when I knew, even though he didn’t show it, he felt responsible for us. He said to us, if I sell my back catalogue for a million dollars, what will i leave for you? He turned that deal down. He said ‘I will not sell my back catalogue to anybody for any amount’ He left that for us and you know since he died, a lot of people have come to try to buy from us and they will offer and I will tell them, you know what, It’s not mine to sell. If the owner didn’t sell it, I can’t sell it.”