Despite is the first person in the country to introduce payola

Highlife artiste Kakyire Kwame Appiah has alleged that businessman Kwame Despite is the first person in the country to introduce payola into the industry.

The issue of people especially upcoming artiste paying radio dj and presenters in the country for their songs to be played on radio or be given airtime to showcase their talents.

Even though people have spoken about the negative thing such things bring, a permanent solution is yet to be found to this canker.

But according to Kakyire Kwame Appiah, who has been in the industry for some years now, Kwame Despite is the one who introduced the act into the industry.

Speaking with Hammer Nti on the show “Hammer Time” on Kumasi based Pure FM, he gave a brief history of how payola came into the system.

“I was recording my song 24 at the Ghana Films Studio with five engineers, then I went to Despite to get inlays for my new track and also to collect money he (Despite) owed me. After listening to the song Osei Kwame Despite told me it was a good one and showed interest in doing business with me by being the main distributor”, he recalled

According to Kaakyire Kwame Appiah, after Despite paid his debt, he asked of how much he would charge him should his name be featured in the “Bronya” hit song.

Kaakyire continued that, “After telling him the price for the studio recording of ¢40,000 cedis (old currency), he agreed to pay me ¢100,000 and also gave ¢ 20,000 each for the five engineers working on the record. So he started paying Payola to the sound engineers to include his name to the music”.

Kaakyire Kwame Appiah Bronya till date remains one of the best locally produced Christmas song ever and also one of the bestselling albums in the history of the country.