Afro-soul star singer Bensoul, now an independent artiste since leaving Sauti Sol’s Sol Generations Record label, says he has revised his performance rate card.
A gifted songwriter and performer, Bensoul whose single Extra Pressure from his latest album The Party & After Party is currently topping the charts, is now charging a premium for his songwriting services.
“When I began my music journey I would write songs for artists and charge Sh50,000 for one-offs. But over time as I grew into the game and gotten better, that has changed. There are songs I have written for artists like Size 8 and sold them one-off not for less than Sh200,000.” Bensoul tells Nairobi News.
Even then Bensoul argues that the amount is quite little for a one-off song given the returns an artiste stands to gain.
“When I write a song for someone I give it all my soul to ensure it’s a hit and we can mention several songs I have written for artists that turned out to be hits. Selling a song at Sh200,000 as a one-off is a bargain to the artiste because if the track becomes a hit, one will recoup the money from royalties and performance fees,” Bensoul explains.
The singer says he desires to get to a level where he can charge up to Sh500,000 for one-off songwriting gigs.
“In some countries, there are those artists who live large as ghostwriters, making millions of money from just songwriting.  They don’t need to perform because the money they earn from songwriting gigs is crazily high. A good example in the continent is South Africa. The highest-paid artists in South Africa are songwriters and music producers, not the performing artists. Charging Sh500,000 for a songwriting gig in South Africa is considered a favor. These are the kind of levels I anticipate to grow into” Bensoul alludes.
However, Bensoul says he doesn’t sell all the songs he writes for other artists.
“There are those songs that I do split sheets with an artiste where I get to collect royalties more so when I am convinced that particular song is going to be a major hit, I always ensure I am tied to its success to the end.” He says.
Size 8, Ken Wa Maria, Kidum, Seyi Shay, Sauti Sol, H_art The Band, and Mercy Masika are just a few of the artists who have benefited from his writing prowess.
So good is Bensoul’s songwriting skills that Grammy Award winner, Afrobeat star Burna Boy too hired his services for the song Time Flies. The track forms part of Burna Boy’s album Twice As Tall which won a Grammy in 2021.
Bensoul says his rate card for performance gigs has also gone up, He attributes this to the high cost of music production.
“For instance, production of my latest album which features 15 tracks cost slightly over sh1.5 million. That’s just from recording and mastering. I haven’t shot videos yet, there is the marketing budget and also remember I hosted a listening party for the launch,” He explains.
As of 2022, Bensoul charged a flat rate of US dollars 2,800 (Sh360,000) when booked solo, and US dollars 4,500 (Sh580,000)  as part of Sol Generation.
“Those are old rates.  I no longer accept a show outside the country that pays less than US dollars 10,000 (Sh1.3 million). Locally, the minimum I charge for a show is US dollar 8,000 (Sh1 million) and this is because, among many other factors that I have attempted to explain above which also includes taxes, I do live performances with a live band that needs to be catered for,” he maintains.