Xander de Buisonjé was badly cheated at the start of his musical career. He retained almost nothing from the first successful album of his then band Volumia, he says. “Two tons!”
It really bothers Xander de Buisonjé that there are so many charlatans in the music business. He is also afraid that his rapping son Sem van Dijk will have to deal with this at some point. “I think he should be careful with contracts and managers. That hasn’t always gone well for me. There are a lot of charlatans around.”
‘Look after!’
Xander holds his breath. He tells in the Weekend: “Fortunately he is doing well now. And he does indeed have to make his own mistakes, but when you see your son walking towards a burning fire, it is sometimes very difficult not to say: ‘Be careful.’ So I will.”
He himself could have used such a warning at the start of his career. “I would have liked it if someone had pointed out managers who are not completely honest. In this world — and perhaps in the whole world — many people only think about themselves.”
Two tons
Xander was also terribly tricked in his early days. “I think an artist should always earn more than half, because it’s all about that artist. But that’s not the case. Record companies are taking advantage of that.”
He concludes: “The record company earned twelve million from Volumia!’s first album and we earned two hundred thousand euros with an entire band. And all kinds of things had to be paid back. That is of course not correct.”