Veteran Ugandan musician Mesach Semakula has defended the VIP ticket prices for his upcoming concert, saying the rising cost of staging live shows makes it difficult for artists to generate profits from cheaper tickets.
Semakula, who is preparing to celebrate 50 years in the music industry, is scheduled to perform at Kingdom Kampala on November 13. His concert features VIP tickets starting at Shs150,000, a price point that differs from the Shs20,000 and Shs30,000 tickets commonly associated with many local music shows.
Speaking in a recent television interview, the singer said staging a concert at Cricket Oval can cost at least Shs250 million, leaving musicians exposed to significant financial risks if audiences do not turn up in the expected numbers.
“Lately, everything is very expensive. You spend millions in input, the whole time you do not know if people will even come or not plus other technicalities,” Semakula said.
He added that some artists have lost property after shows failed to attract enough paying fans, highlighting the financial pressure associated with concert production.
Why Semakula Is Charging More for VIP Tickets
Semakula said different ticket prices serve different audiences, but argued that artists investing substantial sums in production cannot always recover their expenses through low-priced admission alone.
“Everything has its own target market. To earn from the cheap tickets, one has to have gotten so many people to get some profits out of it,” he explained.
The singer maintained that his production costs make it difficult to generate meaningful returns from cheaper tickets, prompting the need to adjust pricing.
“But because of how much we invest in, we can never profit from such amounts. We have to change a little to see that we earn something out of it,” he said.
His remarks underline a financial challenge facing live music events: artists must balance ticket affordability with the cost of venues, equipment, technical production and other event requirements.
Despite the higher VIP prices, Semakula said he was not afraid of a potentially low turnout.
Semakula Also Moves to Fight Counterfeit Tickets
Beyond pricing, the veteran musician revealed that his team has taken steps to address counterfeit tickets, which he said have previously affected concert revenue.
Semakula said he had joined other artists, including singer Irene Namatovu, in importing tickets printed abroad as part of efforts to reduce fraud.
He recalled instances in which concerts appeared full, only for organisers to discover that some attendees had entered using duplicated tickets.
“You sing for a full crowd but almost half of them have duplicated tickets,” he said.
According to Semakula, the new tickets feature unique codes designed to prevent them from being scanned again, an approach intended to make ticket verification more secure and protect both organisers and concertgoers.
With his November 13 performance approaching, Semakula is positioning the concert around a major career milestone while defending the pricing and security measures he says are necessary to stage shows in an increasingly expensive entertainment industry.
Event details: Mesach Semakula’s 50-year music celebration; November 13; Kingdom Kampala.