On the subject of artistes charging exorbitantly for international shows, singer Kwabena Kwabena has opined “there’s a miscommunication, and misunderstanding on the part of the new crop of artistes” while “those of us who’ve been here for a while understand how these things work”.

“Thus, the promoters overseas do not find it difficult working with us,” he added, speaking to Nana Romeo on Accra 100.5 FM’s Ayekoo Ayekoo.

“We know how events are organised and run abroad.”

Kwabena Kwabena said the new generation of artistes’ “mindset” had to be “corrected”.

He explained event organisers and promoters in the diaspora mainly catered to the Ghanaian community.

“So the artiste booked is going out there to play to, let’s say, a 90 per cent Ghanaian audience,” he went on.

“Experience has taught me it’s even difficult for the Ghanaian audience to pay even 50 dollars, euros, or pounds to be at an event. In certain places in Europe, they want to pay as low as 10, 15 euros to come to a show. And these auditoriums the promoters pick cannot house more than a 1000, 1,500 people.”

In the end, Kwabena Kwabena explained, “they don’t get enough in terms of revenue.

“Therefore, that should also inform how much an artiste is charging them.”

The multiple award-winning singer bemoaned the new crop of artistes did not have a healthy appreciation of the challenges confronting event organisers abroad.

“This makes the promoters out there suffer,” he said. “So, there has to be proper communication with both parties so we come to an understanding.”

As a veteran, he said his mindset when he took on international shows was not just to make money “but to also entertain our brothers out there”.

He said he had observed “shows in Ghana paid more than shows out there in Europe.

“But then if you put everything in terms of costing [for an international show] together: business class ticket, hotel, ground transport and certain things, you notice they [promoters in the diaspora] are actually doing well.”

For clarity, he explained bookings for big shows that attracted diverse audiences abroad and paid much better were often facilitated by record label executives, noting, also, it would be unfair to compare these to those put together by small and medium-sized event promotion companies run by Ghanaians, in terms of logistics and budget.