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Johannesburg - They make a living singing praises but gospel stars, Kholeka Dubula and Sechaba Pali, are in no mood for joyous celebrations at the moment.
This after their former record company, Bula Records (now a part of Gallo Records) used their material without their permission.
According to Sowetan, Bula records recently released a great hits compilation for both artists, but the artists say they knew nothing about the albums.
Both artists say they were notified about the albums, when they saw promotional posters or articles about their albums.
Kholeka concedes that her biggest mistake was signing the rights to her music over to Bula, but Sechaba says he never signed anything allowing the label to use his music without his permission.
Kholeka says it saddens her to see how record labels exploit young artists, but she will not take them to court because she does not have the time to fight them, when she could be moving forward her ministry. Instead she says she will pray for them to repent.
But, Gallo boss, Neil Greenberg, denies that the label has ripped the artists off, saying the label will pay the artists royalties in the next two weeks.
"Artists royalties were obviously split evenly and Bula paid the proportion to us. We are in the process of paying now,There is no withholding of money. We have always been transparent, and I don't like it when artists say that they haven't been paid," Neil says.
It seems like this is one instance, where pleas to pay back the money have been successful.
