‘Metro FM is 90% local, 0% kwaito’

According to a report by City Press on Sunday, kwaito artists are accusing the popular SABC station of sidelining their music.

Sibusiso Ntshangase, the creator of Amaloya, has complained that Metro FM could not find even one of his tracks on their system during a live interview on air. He and other kwaito musicians, including Nomasanto “Mshoza” Maswanganyi and Sandile “Mapaputsi” Ngwenya, told the paper that they shared Ntshangase’s pain.

They accused the station’s music compiler, Nathi “DJ Nutty” Nthangeni, of being behind the alleged anti-kwaito bias, and said that if they did not receive the kind of radio airplay they used to get in the past, then they did not get as many gigs, and couldn’t make enough money to survive.

Ntshangase took to Facebook to rant about the fact that several old kwaito tracks had been removed from Metro’s playlists. He said that he was “not going to pay payola for my music to get airplay. I refuse.”

By that he was implying that SABC music compilers might expect bribes from artists to play their music. However, the SABC’s spokesperson denied that Metro had stopped playing kwaito and alleged that the artists were blaming one person for their “personal issues”.

His comments suggested that Metro may no longer see kwaito as appropriate for its audience, although he maintained that there was still kwaito to be found in Metro’s system. He said that other SABC radio stations may well have been playing the artists’ songs though.

It appears that, in Metro FM’s opinion, audiences have been asking for more local hip hop.

A business consultant said that Metro would have to prove that it was not part of the “forces against Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s 90% quota” by not simply dismissing the artists’ complaints.

Are you a Metro FM listener? Do you want to hear more kwaito? Or is kwaito dead? Tell us what you think.