Despite the ongoing global success of the song Jerusalema, vocalist Nomcebo Zikode, who features on the song, has revealed that she’s yet to receive a cent from the song’s profits and is now taking her fight to court.
Nomcebo finally broke her silence on the matter on social media on Sunday morning. This after Sunday World reported that Nomcebo had allegedly been sidelined by her record label, Open Mic Productions, two weeks ago.
The songstress revealed that the global success of the viral hit song had not translated into money for her and alleged that she was instead being ridiculed and that her contributions were being “minimised” by the record label.
“Thank you to all the fans of #jerusalema you have made my dreams a reality, with attaining a global hit song. My voice and lyrics have transcended globally, but I still await what is due to me. I have not been paid a cent by the label for #jerusalema despite the song’s global success. I have been ridiculed, with efforts to marginalise my contribution,” Nomcebo said.
The singer said the continued love and support from fans of #jerusalema had been her strength and anchor during this difficult time, however she was ready to fight and the matter was now with her legal representatives.
“I, as a female artist, can’t stay silent on this anymore, the matter is now with my lawyers,” read her statement.
Nomcebo’s statement landed both her, Master KG and their song Jerusalema on the Twitter trends on Sunday.
Taking to Twitter to refute Nomcebo’s claims, Master KG in a now-deleted tweet said Nomcebo had received money — in excess of R1m — for the song. He tagged Nomcebo on the TL asking her to confirm.
“Can you confirm that you received R1.5m so far from Jerusalema?” he asked before adding that Nomcebo had not paid him for their other song together, Xola Moya Wam.
The DJ, who is currently on tour in France and living his best life as he promotes his new song Shine Your Light featuring David Guetta and Akon, also alleged that the vocalist was getting greedy and wanted more than what was “due to her”.
“And again, Nomcebo can you tell these people that you are demanding a bigger percentage than mine on this song?”
“The agreement of Jerusalema is 50/50 between me and Nomcebo but wants 70% and I must get 30%,” he added.