Kean Cipriano’s camp on viral blind item: Attempt to ruin his reputation

Kean Cipriano’s camp came to his defense after a viral blind item allegedly pointing to the singer-businessman made the rounds of social media, saying it’s an attempt to besmirch his reputation in the music industry. 

On Saturday, March 7, internet personality Xian Gaza claimed in a Facebook blind item that a certain music label owned by a musician is allegedly exploiting its emerging artists by supposedly imposing deductions that significantly reduce their profits.

“Around 95% nung income sa Youtube at Spotify ay napupunta sa bulsa ng ating subject tapos yung kakarampot na halaga ay lumalampas pa ng isang taon bago ma-release sa mga kawawang artists. Very greedy. Sobrang abusado. Masamang tao,” he said.

(Around 95% of the profits from YouTube and Spotify would go to the pockets of our subject, then it would take a year for the remaining profits to be given to the artists. Very greedy. Very abusive. What a mean person.)

While Gaza didn’t reveal the name of the label nor the musician, many netizens concluded that he was referring to Cipriano, noting the former’s clue that the subject’s name rhymes with his. At the same time, the former Callalily vocalist is the founder of the independent music label O/C Records. 

In a text message to Inquirer Entertainment, O/C Records AdProm head James Banaag said that while Gaza didn’t name anyone in his post, it remains nonetheless an attempt to ruin the musician’s reputation.

“About Xian Gaza, I’m not sure where he’s coming from. Hindi ko alam kung anong hugot niya, since hindi naman sya taga-music industry. Maybe he’s just friends with someone who’s trying to break Kean and O/C’s reputation,” he said, when asked for comment on the blind item.

Banaag pointed out that the figures mentioned in Gaza’s blind item “were mentioned in totality,” although it only applied to music royalties. He also explained that the division of profit between the artist and the manager differs when it comes to talent fees. 

“‘Yung sinasabi kasi ni Xian Gaza, akala niya in totality. Pero that only applies to music royalties. Usually talaga ganon: 90% – label, 10% – composer; not even the singer itself, kaya kung singer-songwriter ka naman, okay lang. Meron 95-5, 96-4, 97-3,” he said. 

“Iba naman yung cut ng manager-artist sa talent fee, which is usually 70 (artist) 30 (management),” he continued.

When asked to elaborate on his point, Banaag said there is a difference between the distribution of profits from music royalties and the management of artists, though some record labels also manage artists.

“The thing is, record labels din kasi nowadays, manage artists. Pero iba ang contract for recording and for management alone. ‘Yung 90-10 / 95-5 etc., for music revenues yan

Spotify, YouTube, Music licensing — like pag kinuha sa ads or TV/film ang song. Or dati, CDs, tapes,” he said. 

“Usually talaga, 70-30. Bale let’s not be confused — this is for artist and management. Ito naman, applies for — example kinuha ang artist sa isang music festival, yung talent fee nya doon will be the standard hundreds of thousands. D’on nagkakaroon ng 70-30 sharing after taxes,” he further explained.

Xian ‘doesn’t know how the music business works’

Meanwhile, musician Ian Sison also stood up for Cipriano in a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday, March 8, in which he claimed that Gaza doesn’t understand the workings and nuances of the music industry.

“If it’s really Kean C. is what Xian Gaza is referring to kasi he is playing it safe as well for legal purposes,  with all due respect, I think they don’t know how the music business works. Clearly they don’t know anything about the record splits at all mentioning those percentage splits on their said post,” he said, in response to a netizen who attached Cipriano’s photo and claimed that Gaza was referring to the vocalist.

Sison stressed that Gaza’s remark about the alleged distribution of profit had “wrong details,” adding that artists have the right to question music labels when it comes to distribution of profit in royalties and talent fees. 

“About the 95% percentage share they mentioned on their post, it’s very clear na mali ang detalye ng pagkakasabi. I know this from the truth kasi I know the splits well and if there is something wrong with the splits, ako na mismo ang magquequestion kasi katulad ng iba, ayaw ko din ng niloloko ako. We all are right?” he said.

Sison also reiterated that Cipriano is “very clear and professional,” although he acknowledged that some of their colleagues might find the latter “difficult” to work with. He added that he is “too old” to engage in any posts that add to Gaza’s “clout.” 

“I know he [Xian Gaza] may know a lot in the entertainment business but its not enough having to know people inside the entertainment industry or in the music business, it does not mean that the person knows how the music business works already,” he said.

“A lot of you might not like his personality at all, I on the other hand don’t have the same vibe like Lean. For years of learning [and] working alongside their team, all that dude did was to help to be frank. He’s not perfect, yes. To some people he might be difficult to work with, maybe. To my experience it’s the opposite,” he continued.

Cipriano himself has yet to address the viral blind item, as of this writing. /edv