Zeeteah Massiah
Interview conducted on April 28, 2023
By Dan Locke
Zeeteah. (Pronounced ZEE-tee-ah). Born in Barbados… grew up in London… been a singer all my life. I’ve had a number one dance hit in America and been in a major West End musical. I’ve sung with some amazing artists like Robbie Williams, Tom Jones, Sting and Johnny Hallyday. I make music with my husband Paul and my wicked band, mixing up reggae, dancehall, soul and jazz. I love it all. I hope you will too.
What is your upbringing?
I was born in Barbados, in the countryside, and moved to England with my parents when I was six years old. I grew up in London.
How did you discover music?
Music discovered me. My mother says I was singing before I could talk, and I announced at a very early age that I was going to be a singer. I was a soloist in church as a child, and I used to play music for the other kids on my little record player for the other kinds in my school playground.
How did you start to write music?
My husband Paul and I are a musical duo. I do all the performing, and he does most of the writing and the production. Paul started writing music as a teenager and was a songwriter and a member of a successful pop group in the 80s.
Describe your music.
Our music is a sensual collision between reggae, dancehall, jazz and soul.
What was your first performance like?
My first public performance was as a child soloist in church. I don’t remember too much about it, but I remember that I liked it. The first performance outside of church that I remember was singing reggae at a club in West London as a teenager.
Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP ?
I belong to PRS, MCPS, VPL and ASCAP.
What makes a good songwriter?
The great 18th century poet Alexander Pope famously described great writing as “What oft was thought, but so ne’er so well express’d.” I think that’s what great songwriting is: coming up with lyrics and melodies that people instantly relate to without actually having heard them before.
What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?
It’s so long ago that I can’t remember. But the first song that Paul wrote for me was entitled “Whatever This Is” and yes, we did record it, and release it. It’s a lovely song and it still sounds great.
What is the process of writing your music
Paul says that I inspire him to write. He certainly inspires me. Song ideas seem to come to him at all sorts of different times and places, but it often happens when we’re out listening to music or dancing to it – he’ll suddenly have an idea and start singing it into his phone.
Tell me about making your album at home:
Five years ago my husband-/-musical-partner Paul and I moved from our flat in Notting Hill to a house in Buckinghamshire. Moving out of London enables us to have much more space, and in particular it meant that we could build a proper recording studio in our new home. It’s a wonderful thing to have and we use it all the time.
We also have a large open-plan living room which, by pure luck, has great acoustics, and we used this as a large “live room” for recording when necessary. When we recorded the album, Wat A Ting, we started with a live rhythm section, consisting of bass, drums, guitar and keyboards, and we set all this up in our living room.
The musicians were Marcin Bobkowski on guitar, the legendary Horseman on drums, Grammy award-winner Don Chandler on bass and Calvin Bennion on piano and hammond. The guys slept here for three nights and worked on the tracks for four days.
It was a brilliant way to work, and we got wonderful results. We then spent the next few months adding grand piano synths (Pete Billington) percussion (Horseman again) and tenor soprano and baritone sax (all Rob Hughes). Horseman added some vocals.
Then it was my turn to do all the lead vocals, harmonies, and backing vocals. After that Paul locked himself in the studio for a few weeks and mixed everything.
We feel truly blessed to have been able to create music in this way.
Are you ready for my upcoming tour?
I don’t have an upcoming tour — we’re too busy working on our next album which shares some dancehall influences from the last one but also brings in a heavy dose of AfroBeats.
You have worked with the likes of Robbie Williams, Tom Jones and Sting. Do you have any stories you’d like to talk about?
There have been some amazing times, and so many stories I can’t tell – pop stars can be very naughty. But here’s a little memory from the Tom Jones world tour.
Tom was a lot of fun to work with, and was most definitely what you’d call a ladies’ man. Anyway, about halfway through the tour we were playing a big venue in Melbourne, Australia and towards the end of the set all the musicians in the front line started moving more and more over the right-hand side of the stage until we were all clustered there in a little group. Tom could see that we were all staring at something in the audience but couldn’t see what it was. It wasn’t until the show was over that we were able to tell him that there was a very attractive girl in the front row wearing an extremely short skirt and no knickers, and she kept flashing Tom trying to attract his attention.
When he found out, he was absolutely gutted that he’d missed her, and started trying to round up security staff to go and try to find her. Of course by then it was way too late but he never really got over having missed her and we kept teasing him about it for the rest of the tour. Every now and then we’d all pretend to be staring at someone in the audience and Tom would go crazy trying to concentrate on his singing at the same time as trying to see what we were looking at.
Eventually he stopped believing us, but Tom, if you’re reading this – she really was there in Melbourne!
What are you feeling about streaming music?
It’s great that all the music in the world is now available to everyone all the time. What an incredible luxury. We should all be very grateful.
Of course, a side effect of the streaming revolution is that there is now vastly more music available than ever before and therefore the income available to individual musicians can be pretty meagre unless they make it big. But in a sense it was always like that – the majority of musicians have always struggled to make a living. And I don’t think it’s a good look when megastars complain that their royalty checks don’t have enough zeros on the end.
Digital vs. vinyl?
Both.
What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?
The song that’s in my head right now is Jerusalema by Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode. I absolutely love it. As for songs from the past – there are so many that I adore that I don’t really know where to start. The first one that springs to mind right now is “Sweet Sensation” by The Melodians.
What do these songs mean to me?
They make me feel good. That’s what they mean to me.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means things like a playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
Of course it is. It always was and it always will be. The music business is a business, after all. But it’s not the only way to be heard.
The show Star Trek introduced people to the holodeck: an immersive, realistic 3D holographic projection of a complete environment that you could interact with.
Today holograms are already being used in a variety of way, such as medical systems, education, art, security and defensePerformers like Tupac, Michael Jackson, Roy Orbison, Frank Zappa, Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, Buddy Holly, Ronnie James Dio, Marylin Monroe, and Whitney Houston have done it already. The band ABBA just announced that they will be doing a comeback together after nearly 40 years as holograms on their next tour. With ABBA it was with the help of George Lucas .
If the cost was down to the point you could do it also, would you be willing to do Holographic concerts in our living room?
No. For me, live performance is all about the exchange of energy between the audience and the performer. That’s what I love about it and it’s where all the power comes from. That wouldn’t work if I was a hologram.
In the past if a musician stopped doing music they found a new career. For example David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants.. If you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?
No one’s ever going to stop me making music.
What is your happy place?
On stage singing, in the studio or in my garden.
Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to sell their entire song catalog for $140 Million. In the past year a lot of musicians such as Stevie Nicks ($100 Million) , Bob Dylan (over $400 Million), Taylor Swift, Journey, Def Leppard, K.T. Tunstall, John Legend, ZZ Top and Shakira have sold their catalog rights within the last year. Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog for a reported $300 million. Neil Young song 50 percent of his worldwide copyright and income interest in his 1,180 song catalogue to Hipnosis Songs Fund limited . Once you get to the age of about 70. Publishing is far more lucrative then the mechanical royalties paid to artist based on sales, airplay and streams. A good example of this is Michael Jackson brought the rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985. And in the late 80’s the Beatles Revolution appeared in a Nike commercial.
The lump sums being offering by publishing firms are more tax friendly concerning estate planning.
On January 19, 2021 Hipgnosis Song Management acquired 80% of Kenny Chesney’s recorded music royalties, covering the country superstar’s discography from his 1994 debut In My Wildest Dreams through 2017’s Live in No Shoes Nation.
Someone who was totally against selling his rights was David Crosby. He did not want to sell his publishing rights. In addition, it was not an easy thing for him to do. However, by making a deal with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, it took a big weight off his shoulders. He could pay off his house and cover other bills. Now he does not have to work for a living. It should be noted that David is battling tendinitis in his hands, which hurts his ability to play guitar.
Do you think you would be willing to sale your back catalog if someone like Universal is will to buy everything, such as all the rights to all your songs?
Let’s be sensible about this. It all depends on how much they’re offering, and how badly I need the money.
There are many platforms out there that allow artists to get their music heard. Artist Republik, DistroKid, Tunecore & plenty others offer distribution services. These services enable independent artists to put their music on some of the most popular streaming services globally, from Spotify to Apple Music & everything in between. If you’ve been in any part of the music industry in recent years, you probably know someone that has distributed a song.
Spotify reports that in 2021 there are about 8 million artists on the platform. Of those 8 million artists, about 57,000 are raking in a whopping 90% of the total revenue from streams. That means that .71% of the artists on Spotify are making good money. In 2020, there was a total of around $5 billion paid out to artists on the Spotify platform alone.
Therefore it’s reasonable to assume that, by the end of 2021, SPOT will be home to over 90 million tracks. And that in the early part of next year, it will surpass a catalog of 100 million for the first time.
What do you think that could mean to independent artists?
It used to cost a lot of money to record music, and it used to be virtually impossible to distribute it without a record deal. Now anyone can record music in their bedroom, and distribute it with a couple of clicks. So, millions and millions of people now do exactly that. That means that there’s now way more music being made than the public can possibly consume.
Not that long ago, it was really hard to release a record, but if you did, there was a good chance it would get heard. Now, it’s extreming easy to release a record – but that’s when the real work starts. Getting noticed is a huge challenge, and, as always, only a few very talented (and lucky) people will manage it.
Over half a billion active users around the world share their favorite music on TikTok either with something like a dance challenge and lip-sync videos or creating a funny skit or candid camera moment.
TikTok has become a great platform for music promotion, sharing songs, and finding new listeners. In which it has become a place for music artists to earn revenue when people use their music. In many cases the daily promotion on TikTok has led to huge boosts on other platforms like Spotify, Facebook and YouTube.
TikTok does this algorithmically generating a feed of content for each user, which you see as the displaying of #. The more a user engages with content, the smarter TikTok gets at guessing what kind of videos the viewer wants to watch.
Because a song can go viral because of this.
Sony Music and Warner Music Group- , The ByteDance-owned video app revealed that it has struck an “expanded” global licensing agreement with Universal Music Group. Now that TikTok is now fully licensed by all three major record companies, will you start using TikTok more?
I already use TikTok a lot. Like it or not, it is now the single most important communication channel for musicians.
Breaking news: TikTok is launching TikTok Radio, a full-time SiriusXM music channel going live this summer.The station will be available in vehicles and as a streaming channel on the SiriusXM App, desktop, and all connected devices.
Some of the on TikTok include Cassyette, YukoEXE, Ashinikko, Palaye Royale, Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots), Yungblud, Morrissey, Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Jett, Gene Simmons, and Mick Jagger.
The station will be part of a new TikTok collaboration with SiriusXM and its subsidiary,Pandora, to jointly promote emerging talent. Do you think this platform could became a force in the future of streaming music?
It’s too early to tell. Just because TikTok has been a big success, it doesn’t mean that TikTok radio will be. These brand extension plays often fail.
Anything you would like to say in closing.
TV talent shows promote the seductive but dangerous myth that anyone can be a star if they try. The truth is that, while anyone can now make and release music, hardly any of that music actually gets listened to. The number of artists making hit records and winning a place in the public consciousness is about the same as it ever was, but it’s now a far, far smaller proportion of the total number trying to be heard.
This unfortunately leads to disappointment for a great many people. But it’s not a problem that can be ‘fixed’.
Musicians need to enjoy making music as a wonderful activity, and not get too depressed if they don’t get billions of streams or millions of dollars.
