Faithia Entertainment, Marlian Music Trade Words Over Cancelled Concert

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

Olawale Babalola, the Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America-based company, Fathia Entertainment, is not in a good mood at the moment.

He is currently at loggerheads with the management of Marlian Music because he claims they did not fulfil their end of the bargain as regards a US tour for Zinoleesky, one of the acts on their roster.

In an interview on Sunday, Babalola said, “We had a contract with Zinoleesky for a US tour. I had procured his visa and other necessary documents.

“First, he left Nigeria for Puerto Rico on the visa I got him without my consent, and that was a breach of the contract we signed. In the lead-up to the event, I kept asking them, especially their manager, Gabby, who lives in London, United Kingdom, when they would arrive in the US, but they did not respond. When the controversy generated by Mohbad’s death came up and the backlash suffered by Marlian Music, they called me three days before the commencement of the tour, which they had to postpone. I told them that tickets had already been sold, and we could not just postpone that way. Considering the bad press that their label was attracting, I told them to refund the money I had paid them, which was a $45,000 deposit for the tour itself, $15,000 for their visas, and $6,500 for a business class ticket for Zino. I have all the receipts of the payments I made to them. They asked me to exercise patience, but I told them that the independent promoters who had been engaged for the tour were already on my neck. Meanwhile, I was not suing them for damages, I only asked them to refund the exact payment I made to them.”

However, Marlian Records, on the other hand, claimed that it was Faithia who cancelled the tour.

In an interview with Gabby, Marlian Music’s Diaspora manager, she said that the contract signed with Fathia Entertainment spelt out that there would be no refund if the latter cancelled the tour. She said, “The contract with the promoter was rather clear. In the event of any sudden cancellation by the promoter, all deposits made would be forfeited.

“The artiste (Zinoleesky) cannot honour a performance that had been cancelled by no fault of his own. Additionally, we found out about the cancellation online, like the rest of the world.

“The promoter had executed an agreement detailing the results of the cancellation. More so, following the devastating passing of Mohbad (a former signee of Marlian Music), we shared with the promoter that we felt it best to postpone. Days after his death was announced, he (Fathia Entertainment) was still attempting to book more dates; being insensitive about the gravity of Mohbad’s death. Fathia did not give us the courtesy of notifying the artiste or his team of their intention to cancel the tour. The cancellation was the promoter’s decision.”

However, Babalola stated that the company was ‘forced’ to cancel the show when Marlian Music asked them to postpone the tour just four days to the D-day.

Responding to the claim, Gabby said, “Bad PR does not take priority over the death of a former artiste. The first show was scheduled for September 28, 2023.

“More so, with the false accusations circulating, I expected him to liaise with the team on a suitable solution given the threats online. Even Bella (Shmurda) postponed his Canadian tour following the news.

“We took the necessary steps to rearrange an alternate date but he decided to cancel without notifying us.”