Nigerian music executive and talent manager Ubi Franklin has given behind-the-scenes insights into how stardom transforms male and female artists and how pregnancy affects the latter.
Ubi, who was speaking on the Culture Sonic podcast, revealed that contrary to popular belief, it is not only male artists who become promiscuous after hitting stardom, but female artists too.
He explained that artists are generally easier to manage before they attain fame, noting that once they taste success, many lose focus and discipline.
“The only artist that can be controlled is the one that has not had a h+t. Once they have a h+t, the first biggest problem for artists is w+manising. For female singers, it’s promiscuity as well,” Ubi said.
Speaking further, Ubi revealed that the possibility of pregnancy is one of the challenges of managing female artists.
He revealed that, as a result of this, he includes a pregnancy clause in contracts for female artists.
The talent manager noted that the entertainment business is capital-intensive, as it could sometimes take spending up to ₦300 million to develop an artist into a successful act.
According to him, if a female artist gets pregnant before building a strong and stable career, it could disrupt her progress and end up ruining all the investments made on her.
He stressed that while he is not against women having children, they need to establish themselves first.
He argued that it is difficult for an up-and-coming female artist in the Nigerian music industry to bounce back after childbirth if her career was not already solid before the pregnancy.
He said, “So just imagine that you have an artist who you are investing in as a woman and she gets pregnant, that’s over. It will take a lot for the artists to come back. Tell me any, any female artists in our industry who has had a baby, who had not built a proper career and then went to have a baby and came back.
“I’m not saying they cannot have children, but the thing is, while you have it, build a strong career. Just imagine that you invest money in a female artiste, you’re pushing the artiste, you’re pushing to a certain level.
“If I’m signing a female artiste, I always put it on a contract that for the duration of a contract, you will not get pregnant. If you’re watching me, this is a freaking business we should stop making it look like because you see artistes playing and everything on social media you can interact with artistes this is a freaking business. Right now to break an artist, with 150 million, you’ve not even started. Sometimes you can spend 300 million on an artist and get nothing as profit.”
