Manager of Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale, Sammy Flex, has confirmed the removal of the musician’s ‘Konekt’ album from YouTube.
Shatta Wale himself announced the decision on Facebook on March 22, citing financial disagreements with other collaborators on the album.
This announcement stirred up discussions among Wale’s fans, especially since the album featured collaborations with artists like Tekno and Bounty Killer. To address the situation, Sammy Flex took to Shatta Wale’s YouTube channel on March 23 to provide clarification.
Sammy Flex explained that the album was removed due to Shatta Wale’s dissatisfaction with the collaboration dynamics, particularly concerning financial matters.
He emphasised that, despite Shatta Wale’s status as an independent musician who invests significantly in his projects, he expects the same level of commitment from his collaborators.
The removal from YouTube is seen as a step towards resolving these issues, following fruitful discussions between both parties. Flex assured that the team will explore alternative options to address the matter and restore normalcy.
“As an artiste, at every point in time, he has the way he wants his things to go. At every point in time, if these things change, definitely the artiste will not be happy. The artiste will not be happy.
“Knowing the investment that he has also put in, he would want the other partners to also come in with the same energy. He would want the other partners to also come in with the same force. So that when our powers all come together, it will combine to give us the necessary results that we are looking for.
“But as an independent artiste, as someone who is funding all his projects, he wasn’t seeing that. And I’m sure, like I said, there is a process for achieving some of these objectives. And to him, he thinks this is one of the first processes to handle that.
“So to avoid any back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, let me first put the one on YouTube down. When I put the one on YouTube down and we can have some conversations and it works, I’m sure we can get back to normal,” he explained.
Even though the ‘Konekt’ album has been removed from YouTube, Sammy Flex encouraged fans to continue listening to it on other digital streaming platforms such as Spotify, Boomplay, Audiomack, and Apple Music.
He assured fans that the team is actively working on finding solutions behind the scenes, emphasizing that this action does not signify the end of the artist’s opportunities.
“There are still some options that we can explore, and that is what the team will try to do behind the scenes before we move forward. But like I’m saying, it does not take away the songs from online markets. It takes the song from only the YouTube app, on Shatta Wale’s page.
“As much as I know, the rest of the marketing, the digital platforms also have their songs there. All the rest of their DSPs, also have their songs there. So beyond having it on YouTube, you can also access their songs on the rest of the platforms,” he said.