Details have emerged about why Kenyan rapper Nyashinski pulled 20 of his hit songs from Spotify and Apple Music.
A spot check by this scribe a few days ago revealed that over 20 songs have so far been removed from Spotify and Apple Music, including “Malaika,” “Mungu Pekee,” “Aminia,” “Properly” (featuring Femi One), “Marathon Runner,” “Serious,” “Kabla Tudie,” “Finyo,” “Kebs,” “Hapo Tu” (featuring Chris Kaiga), “Lift Me Up,” and many others.
Further investigation showed that all the songs removed by Nyashinski were produced by music composer and performer Cedric Kadenyi, also known as Cedo. In contrast, Cedo has not removed any of the songs that feature Nyashinski.
Details are emerging that there might be a fallout between the two.
A friend of the duo, who spoke on condition of anonymity to Nairobi News, revealed that there was a disagreement over a multi-million shilling deal with one of the country’s telecom companies.
“What I hear is that the two had a falling out over a Sh10 million-plus deal. Shinski landed a mega jingle deal from one of the country’s telecom companies. He approached Cedo to produce the jingles and offered to pay him Sh1 million, which the producer initially agreed to,” a source told Nairobi News.
However, upon further inquiry through his contacts within the telecom company, Cedo discovered the full value of the deal. Feeling undervalued and shortchanged, he demanded a larger share of the proceeds. This demand led to a significant disagreement between the two, straining their long-standing professional and personal relationship.
Nyashinski’s move to remove songs produced by Cedo from Spotify and Apple Music prevents Cedo from earning royalties on those tracks, as the songs are no longer generating revenue through these major streaming platforms.
“This simply means that Cedo won’t be able to earn any royalties from those songs for which they share publishing rights. What I don’t understand is why Shinski would make such a move, which also affects him directly,” the source added.
