Nothende Madumo Shares How She Got Blacklisted After Her Hit Song With Lulo Cafe

Nothende Madumo shares how she got blacklisted after her hit song with Lulo Cafe. Singer and songwriter Nothende Madumo expressed the issues she faced in the music industry and battling with Lulo Cafe for their song.

In her interview on Eric Says & Co on YouTube, Nothende shared that she was blacklisted due to her battle with the people she worked with on the song I Wanna Love You, including Lulo Cafe. The song was released in 2010 and after its release, it became a hit song. The singer shared that she did not get paid as a co-owner of the song. Even though they made payment agreements prior to working on the song, she did not receive her percentage. She shared that when the song was released, she was not involved in the negotiations.

“I knew that certain things cannot happen without certain agreements in place, certain licenses being granted, being given, being paid for. Because I was not involved in agreements, it wasn’t my label, it wasn’t my project, it wasn’t my place to be negotiating. But because I am a co- owner of the song, I’d obviously would then enquire about things”, Nothende said.

Amid her situation with the song, Nothende says she was blacklisted. She shared that her song was removed from radio airplay and she was not granted interviews. She further added that she did not go ahead with taking serious steps with the case as she had financial struggles and wanted to protect her mental health because the battle was costly.

“… I learnt that day that through my process and experience and my situation with the song I Wanna Love You it somehow resulted in my song being removed from radio stations… It’s little things like that, that made me realize how real it can get and how quickly things can change. Being blacklisted is a real thing in the industry”, Nothende said.

Nothende spoke about the challenges she faced while battling for the song. She said that her experience with the song changed whereas when she was working on it she was in a happy place. This led to the point where she never wanted to listen to her song again. “That’s when I started facing challenges with I Wanna Love You. A lot of things changed, how I experienced the song whereas before it was a beautiful experience and it just gradually became a very difficult experience over time. It got to the point where I didn’t even wants to hear the song”, Nothende shared.

Lately, she has been sharing videos on her social media pages of herself in studio working on new music. Additionally, she shared that she is now a music teacher in the music industry. She coaches and mentors young artists in the music sphere. It was shared on the podcast that 12 years later after the release of the song, the singer will finally get paid.