GRAMMA Records general manager Emmanuel Vhori yesterday confirmed the company was up for sale following the publication of a notice of sale by tender calling on potential buyers to stake their interest.
BY CLIFF CHIDUKU
“Yes, I can confirm that the company is on the market and it is being sold by tender. I will not give further details until on Monday next week when you produce a receipt that you have paid catalogue fees,” he said.
Gramma Records is one of the country’s oldest music recording and distribution companies which boasts an extensive catalogue of local music.
According to the notice, the company is up for sale together with its sister firms — Zimbabwe Music Company (ZMC), Ngaavongwe Records and Records and Tape Promotions.
“Sale by Tender – Gramma Records, which pioneered the recording, production and distribution of local music in the early 1970s and its sister companies – Zimbabwe Music Company (ZMC), Ngaavongwe Records and Records and Tape Promotions are up for sale. It has a deep catalogue of local music and plus an array of recording and manufacturing plants,” the notice read in part.
The catalogue fees, according to the notice, are pegged at $500.
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Insiders say the company, owned by Elias Musakwa, is facing a myriad of problems. Most prominent musicians, that used to record under them have turned solo, preferring to do their own recording, marketing and sales.
Gramma Records and ZMC used to run radio programmes on ZBC, but all that was washed away by piracy.
At Gramma Records, the recording studios used to employ full-time engineers, mixers and producers, but it has since gone on a retrenchment spree and the makeshift staff is owed thousands of dollars in unpaid salaries, according to insiders, in the face of widespread illegal reproduction of music sold cheaply by pirates.
