European Promoters Take Profits Home: Panel Urges Triple Fees

One of the hosts did not mince words when the conversation turned to how European promoters handle business in South Africa. According to the episode, the speaker argued that these international operators arrive here, sell tickets to locals who love our own music, and then pack all the profits straight back into Europe. The real sting, though, lies in what they actually pay the talent.

Paying 200k Is Not Enough

The host laid out the math on how booking fees are currently structured, pointing out that even major acts are getting undersold. He told the panel, “You pay 200k scorpion kings. You pay h 200k uncle waffles.” That amount might sound substantial to the uninitiated, but in the context of the room’s reaction, it was framed as a baseline that barely scratches the surface of what these events generate. The complaint wasn’t just about the size of the cheque; it was about the fact that the money comes from South Africans, yet the wealth exits the country. He also specifically called out how little artists like Mahu receive for their bookings, reinforcing the idea that the industry treats local talent as an afterthought compared to the massive ticket sales they drive.

So, what is the solution? The host didn’t leave the artists wondering. He gave them a direct instruction on how to fight back against these touring promoters. “Please triple your fee number one,” he instructed the room. The logic was simple: if the promoter wants to sell South African music to South African crowds, they need to pay a premium that reflects the true value of the talent.

Hitting Them With SARS Taxes

The strategy didn’t stop at higher performance fees. The host wanted the financial machinery of the state to do the heavy lifting too. He urged the musicians to demand maximum tax compliance from these foreign entities. “And for tax for SARS, please tax these people 100 times more and see if they’re going to come back next year and host it again,” he told the panel. His goal was explicitly to make the venture less profitable for them until the economics shifted in favour of local artists.

He also brought up the dynamic of domestic travel versus international extraction. He asked why promoters don’t drive from the Eastern Cape to host local events instead of flying in from across the ocean. Since places like the Eastern Cape are centred around tourism, he argued that any business happening there must stay there. “If you come, you must come spend money in our hotels,” he insisted, highlighting that regional promoters are expected to circulate their cash locally, while European ones are criticized for siphoning it out.

If you ask me, this reads like a necessary wake-up call for the industry. The argument that South Africans are too supportive and will spend their last rand just to see our own genre live is exactly what allows these promotional companies to keep squeezing margins. Demanding triple fees and aggressive SARS taxation forces those promoters to either pay up or look elsewhere. The room clearly felt the weight of the issue, recognizing that protecting the livelihood of local musicians requires more than just polite negotiation. It requires structural pressure that makes exploiting the market financially painful for the outsiders.

Source: Americans Hate Tyla? | Kelvin Momo | Jamie Foxx | Old Kwaito | Liquid Deep | Tyla World Cup Millions — Podcast and Chill Network. The link opens at the moment quoted. Quotes are from the episode’s automatic transcript.