Gallo Record Company hits back at reports it owes City of Joburg R3m

Gallo Record Company has released a statement setting the record straight on a report published on Sunday claiming  the music studio had been plunged into darkness after failing to pay a R3m power bill.

City Press reported that artists recording at the Downtown Music Hub studios in Johannesburg had to bring their own generators after the electricity was cut off for a month due to nonpayment of electricity bills to City Power. According to paper, the studios went dark on July 22.

In a statement, Gallo said it wished to register “its utmost disgust at the falsehoods being spread by the City Press newspaper”.

“What is very disappointing is that City Press did not even offer us an opportunity to respond to these falsehoods — even though it was aware that this would be damaging to our brand and reputation as the oldest recording company in SA. The first time we learnt of this was through a poster that was being circulated on social media mentioning Gallo’s name. Had they called us for a comment, as is expected in basic journalism, they probably would not have written or posted such lies on street poles and their digital platform,” said Gallo MD Simu Mukuna.

Gallo said it has had no association with the building or Downtown Music Hub for over 10 years now. It stated the following points to support its statement:

1. Gallo Record Company used to own Downtown Studios in downtown Johannesburg
2. These studios were however sold to the department of arts & culture over 10 years ago. This fact is publicly known. A simple search would have averted the gross mistake.
3. After taking over Downtown Studios, the department of arts & culture rebranded them as Downtown Music Hub.
4. Aside from possibly hiring the facilities, Gallo has had no residency or ownership whatsoever with the Downtown Music Hub since it disposed of the studios over a decade ago.
5. Similarly, Gallo has had no dealing or association with the building that houses Downtown Music Hub since it sold these to the DAC.

“As soon as we became aware of this affront, we alerted the editor and demanded that the tweets be deleted, posters on social media withdrawn and the digital version of the story corrected. But because the story had been given prominence in the print edition, and the fact that these falsehoods are carried on the newspaper’s street-pole posters. We demand an apology from the City Press editor and a correction in their paper,” added Mukuna.

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