Viboyo Shares How Ragga Dee Changed the Face of Music Earnings in Uganda

Veteran musician Viboyo has taken fans down memory lane, opening up about how Ugandan musicians slowly came to understand the business side of music.

Speaking on Deep Talk, Viboyo credited Ragga Dee as the trailblazer who inspired artistes to charge higher fees, changing how musicians viewed their worth at a time when many were popular but earning very little.

He further revealed that Ragga Dee specifically advised Jose Chameleone to increase his fees, despite skepticism from others in the industry.

The person who introduced the concept of money into the industry was Ragga Dee. He is the one who told Jose Chameleone that he was being underpaid. At the time, Chameleone was earning Shs 300K even though he had a hit song, ‘Mama Mia.’ Ragga Dee advised him to start asking for Shs 1M. However, when people heard this advice, they said Ragga Dee wanted Chameleone to fail because they believed no one would pay a musician that amount of money.

Viboyo noted that Chameleone’s gamble paid off and pushed other artistes to rethink their value and pricing.

Chameleone coined the phrase ‘No one million, no Chameleone,’ and those who were around at the time know it well. People began talking about Chameleone being paid one million. As a result, when other artistes made hit songs, for example Bobi Wine, they also started demanding one million. Ragga Dee was the first musician to earn good money from music, then Chameleone, and others also followed.

Looking back, Viboyo dismissed claims that musicians lacked ambition back then.

Instead, he said the problem was simply not knowing the true value of music.

We did not know the value of music at the time. We actually thought people were simply helping us, regardless of the amount they gave us.