The business of music: Meet the man behind Grandpa Records

Before artists were able to use social media, SoundCloud, and other platforms to take promotion, distribution, and recording into their own hands, being signed by a record label was the undisputed gold standard for a successful music career.

Noah Yusuf, who is best known as Refigah in the entertainment circles, quit singing in 2007 and decided to venture into music production and management. In 2009, he started Grandpa Records, a label that has kickstarted the music careers of many artists.

“The name Grandpa was inspired by the fact that I consider myself a grandfather in the industry, our generation of artists gave birth to the likes of Juacali and E-Sir, who in turn gave birth to the likes of DNA and Madtraxx, and they gave birth to Mejja’s generation, which makes me a Grandpa in this industry,” says Refigah.

He began his business with a studio microphone that cost him Sh20,000, headphones, monitors, mixers…the basic items one needs in this business. It took him almost a year to put the equipment together.

In today’s world where there is no fixed price for anything because everything is negotiable, the producer says that what he makes a year is not fixed, since prices keep fluctuating.

“The way I look at it, it is not about how much one makes, it’s all about how you invest,” he comments.

About 70 percent of the artists that Grandpa Records brings on board are raw talent, which they work hard to nurture.

He notes that the pressure on artists in terms of promotion and content creation have never been higher, and that those who embrace the opportunities that the digital landscape and streaming offers are the ones who will benefit the most. “Given that streaming offers a direct link between music listening and revenue, it is key for acts to embrace and explore close collaboration with streaming platforms to reach more fans. It is also important for streaming platforms to help build emerging talent.”

He prides himself with having introduced a number of fresh talent and giving an opportunity to a number of fallen artists to make a comeback.

“I aim to reach both small and large milestones towards a goal, as long as I have made some progress toward solving a problem or reaching a goal, even if I have not reached every personal goal at the end of the day, I consider that progress.”

He has worked with musicians such as Wyre, Sauti Sol, DNA, Kenrazy, Dufla, Mejja, Cindy Sanyu, Jackie Chandiru, Professa Jay, Amileena, among others.

But he does not just produce music. He says that his clientele is everyone looking for an audio and visual solution for their business, therefore commercials and adverts are his forte too.

Refigah says that he can confidently say that if one learns how to pay attention to what is important, success will be his guest because most people spend too much time on things that are not important and end up wasting time and resources.

“I am counting 22 years in the music industry and 47 awards that Grandpa Records has earned me, I have been keen to invest in real estate, a Public Relations agency and I run a foundation to give back, Simama na Kibra - I have 26 employees cutting across my businesses.”

 “Through Simama na Kibra, we managed to feed 3,668 families during the pandemic and started a small scale business for 52 widows and are in the process of rolling out new programs.”

He notes that his biggest challenge as he grew his core business was to break through, noting that every business has different kinds of challenges.

 “The challenges facing our industry are as diverse as the music that we help users find and enjoy. It’s harder than ever to break artists in today’s environment,” he comments, and adds,

“When Grandpa Records started, no radio station was playing our music, so I did gorilla marketing where I would buy data and have someone mix our songs, which we would distribute to matatus, which would then play our songs.”

Refigah says that he has mastered what Kenyan music fans want, and he delivers. While the internet and inexpensive home studios offer musicians significantly more freedom, the fact that people stopped buying music was the first nail on the coffin for major labels, opening the floodgates for artists to become independent.

The music industry as a whole has suffered tremendously since sales plummeted with the rise of the internet, Itunes, and piracy, rendering CDs irrelevant.

“It's true the internet has been brilliant for artists in many ways, giving them an alternative route to make contact with, and sell directly to fans, but record labels do much more than distribute to retailers,” he argues.

Refigah says that record labels adapted immediately digital took over since majority of the successful artists globally are signed to record labels.

“Record labels will remain the backbone of the industry since most artists cannot afford to invest in themselves financially, to record singles and remain relevant in the industry.”

He adds that his record label signs an artist, promotes, dresses the artist and plans concerts, making Grandpa Records an all-round 360 degrees record label.

The recording studio took a break three years ago, but Refigah says there’s a plan for change of guard, and that they will be back in business before the year ends.

[email protected]