Word has been going around that there is someone who is telling media houses, especially radio and TV stations, they are not permitted to play Mani Martin’s songs, but the singer refuted the rumor that is spreading is ‘totally fake’. The afro-fusion singer’s music could be at risk of losing the power play from both local and foreign media houses following a rumor spread by an ‘unidentified’ person who reportedly told a number of presenters from different media houses that the singer has forbidden radios and TV stations from playing his music. In a press statement released on Tuesday, January 26, the singer condemned the rumors as ‘fake’, claiming that he never stopped anyone from playing his music. “I, and my music management, hereby inform all the media houses, their administration and presenters, especially those whom the rumor reached and those who the rumor could reach in the future, that the information is a lie that was fabricated by a person for his or her own benefit without our knowledge,” reads part of the singer’s statement. “Any media house, from Rwanda or abroad, is allowed to broadcast my music (audio and video) as one of the means through which it reaches its intended audience (listeners and viewers). Or else, whoever hears the opposite of what we announced, consider it as a lie,” the statement continued. The singer told The New Times that he did not take the rumor seriously until a number of presenters, who he couldn’t mention, told him that they stopped playing his music because somebody told them not to. “The thing is somebody tells some media houses not to play my music, different media practitioners told me that, I didnt take it seriously until many confirmed it. They claim that the person said I am the one who decided to stop my music from playing in the local media yet I have no idea about that,” the singer said. The singer, who said he couldn’t suspect anyone behind the rumor, revealed that “It has affected the reach of my music to the people who really love it and would love to get it every time I produce it” Mani Martin is one of the very few artists who have raised their voice appealing to the media houses and other private companies to pay royalties for their musical works. In a previous interview with The New Times, the singer showed his frustration from which he spent over a decade doing music like a professional, but without receiving a penny from his royalties. Of all his four albums released, he said, only one song has earned him royalties from Voice of America (VOA) which plays the song during their “Generation Grand Lake Show”. He, however, made it clear that the rumor spreading around has nothing to do with the claims of royalties. “In Rwanda, we have official institutions that deal with the regulations of broadcasting content, including music. This is not something that a particular artiste can decide at a personal level, so it has nothing to do with someone spreading the rumors lying to media houses that I have stopped my music from being played on any media house yet I don’t know anything about that,” he explained.
