‘You cannot just be an artist go and get a job,’ says Oskido

by Bongiwe Mati

Record label owner and businessman Oskido, real name Oscar Bonginkosi Mdlongwa visited the Podcast & Chill with MacG and his team where he spoke intensively about the mistake made by many musicians when they start their singing careers.

It is no secret that the country has many artists who after releasing hit songs are currently broke, unable to provide for their families.

Some even had to be buried with the help of friends and family as they died with no money despite once having been the big stars in the music industry.

A video clip of the podcast episode was shared on X (former Twitter) by local publication MDN News.

The former deejay share advised aspiring artists to get themselves 9-5 jobs while even when they make it in the music industry detailing:

“You know what, you cannot just be an artist, go get a job. Most of the artist I’m signing lately, I tell them no you need to find yourself a 9-5 job, be in the music industry and you know, if thing are meant to go great for you they will. What we have realise is that most of the time we are only busy during the weekends,” said Oskido.

He further noted that a lot of time, artist get into the music industry, record songs and wait for the promoter to push gigs for them. He added that this then gets artists frustrated when the promoters don’t get them gigs to perform at.

Oskido further noted that, on Monday to Friday, some artists do not do anything relying on promoters to get them work.

“When the scene changes, some people come in or you’re not fashionable, those gigs are no longer coming, you are no longer doing anything. This is when you hear all these stories, they are being cheated …. cause they don’t diversify. So, it’s very important especially for a young person who is coming in right now, there’s this piano thing and everyone thinks he’s going to be a Kabza, he’s going to be a Maphorisa, or he’s going to be  whatever.

They wake up in the morning, create beats and sit around afterwards, but what you need to do is create beats and go get a 9-5 and start working.

He added that some aspiring artists end up moving to Joburg in a quest to get a big break in the music industry and end up sharing accommodation with many people.

With thousands of songs released everyday Oskido added that it sometimes gets difficult for new artist’s music to reach the mainstream. He added  that when he was still a deejay, he looked at other means to make money.

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