“Producers And Artists Are Not The Same” – Lady Du Offers Financial Advice To Fellow Musicians. Dudu Ngwenya, popularly known as Lady Du, is a singer, rapper, dancer and songwriter hailing from Vosloorus. The grand-daughter of Alias – the owner of the first nightclub in Vosloorus’ townships, daughter of DJ Choc and niece of YFM’s DJ Zan-D; music flows through her DNA.
Lady Du has taken to social media to share some financial advice to her fellow industry mates, saying that they must understand that producers and artists are not the same, while sharing that producers make more money than artists, so artists need to mind how they spend. “Producers and artists are not the same y’all can never be on the same level, kabza can drop 1000 songs in a year and buy what ever he wants an artist is their last hit, you can’t be on top forever, so you’ll need to be smart! Invest in things that will bring your money back.”
She also advised musicians not to pressurize themselves into making hits or buying expensive items if they want to succeed in the music business. The Zuma yi Star hit-maker, real name Duduzile Ngwenya, emphasised that it was important not to seek fame saying it was possible to make money without a huge following. She said staying true to your character was cheaper saying no one would realise even if the bank account was crippled. She said the first thing to do was to sign with the South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) and South African Music Performance Rights Association (SAMPRA) then hit the studio to record songs consecutively.
“When one hits [and] you build your brand keep recording!!! Reason for this is, I calculate my profit a month on the lowest selling song feature or not, I registered all the songs I’m on which go up to over a 100 songs,” said Ngwenya.
She explained that if her lowest selling song was R3000 a month, she multiplies the number by 100 and comes to a total of R300 000 a month, a process she calls mass production. “Music needs smart movers not fast movers! People fight to make hits but I’ll tell you, you can still make money without a hit, learn the ins and outs of business. I write songs for people [and] my publishing will set me up for life.”
“When you start making a decent amount of money don’t buy expensive clothes and luxury cars knowing you as a brand need to pay them. So, here’s what I did, I saved the whole of 2021, did not buy anything expensive but bought two properties [and] built apartments, they pay me a salary,” she said.
She said her apartments were keeping her lifestyle maintained and she claimed that she would still get money sitting at home via her investments. “Use your music and bookings to build outside what you’re doing, when you now know that you no longer have things to pay monthly from your own pocket, you go back and invest now in the brand!!! Make sure your accounting is on point and your music production is flowing,” she said.
