Audio and film production house, Swangz Avenue has come out to deny allegations by songstress Irene Ntale that they have denied her access to her Facebook page.
Swangz Avenue dismissed this as a mere stunt by the singer to promote her upcoming show. Irene Ntale was signed under the music label until last year when she quit to do the management of her music on her own.
At the time, the ‘Gyobela’ singer said she was officially departing from Swangz Avenue after a lot of contemplation.
“I have made my intentions known to my record label and we have both come to an understanding that this is the best move forward,” she said.
However, yesterday, a hashtag #SwangzAvenueUnchainIrene popped up on Twitter calling for the record label to hand over Ntale’s Facebook page to her. The page currently has a following of over 370,000 people.
Many tweeps have sided with Ntale, condemning the act by Swangz which they say is wrong and unfair.
The writings in a photo that has widely been shared on social media read: “Swangz Avenue has since Irene Ntale’s departure from the label refused to let go of her official Facebook page. The Management which were Admins denied her access to the page”.
“Should labels do such to artists after they depart?” the message further asks.
Ntale told Spark TV in an interview “The truth is Swangz has refused to let go of my Facebook page. A year and a half has elapsed since I left Swangz but they are still stuck to my Facebook”.
“I chose not to argue or fight over the issue because I had other pressing issues, but I need them to give me what belongs to me. I opened this page in 2011 before I even worked with Swangz,” she said.
The artiste wondered why after working cordially with the record label, making hits and money for Swangz, they would choose to hang on her social media.
SoftPower News sought a comment from the Swangz Avenue boss, Julius Kyazze regarding the issue, but he referred us to Jaylor who is the Public Relations Officer for Swangz.
Jalyor downplayed the allegations raised by Ntale as a strategy to promote the singer’s concert which is two weeks away, terming them as “blackmail”. Her ‘Ntale Unchained’ music concert is slated for July 6 at Kampala Serena Hotel.
“If she [Ntale] has been denied access to the page, who has been making the daily posts about the show?” responded Jaylor in an interview with this website on Thursday.
“If we denied her access, how then is she able to Facebook live,” she further asked.
Swangz Avenue also questioned the logic behind Ntale running to the press about her Facebook page access just days to her show yet she has been silent for one and a half years.
“If it’s true she’s not had her page for over one year, why now? Why run to the press 2 weeks before her show with this? Irene knows exactly what she is doing”.
The label says Ntale should not use blackmail to promote a concert.
We further asked for Swangz to state whether or not they still possess Admin rights to the page. Based on the way Facebook pages are designed, roles to whoever makes postings thereon are categorized in two ways – Admin (Administrator) and Editor. However, by design, the Admin has the overall control over the page including rights to block the Editor from accessing the page or making posts.
It therefore is possible that Ntale can still post on the page when actually she isn’t an Administrator.
When we asked Swangz to comment on this, Jaylor only replied: “Did you read the statement very well? That’s all I can give you. She [Ntale] still has her page”.
