There’s hardly any big bucks in Nigerian ‘good music’. Bad music has all the money, the numbers, the fans, the fame, and the success stories. Until that changes, it will become our reality.
Iyanya's powers decline, a new force has risen from his record label. His name is Tekno, and he is currently one of the best pop acts right now in the country.(Coko Bar)
One of this country’s favorite
discussions has been on the subject of the quality of songwriting or
lack of it, in Wizkid’s songs.
After the release
of his sophomore album, “Ayo (Joy)” Nigerians were quick to point out
that his songwriting is of substandard quality. He had to change, they
said. He needed to switch the lyrics of his song, they said. The IQ of
what he offers is crass and needs revamping, they said.
That
album, has not left the iTunes charts for bestselling African projects
since its release, raking in, by our estimate, almost N100 million. The
album is winning, Wizkid is winning, using his lack of songwriting to
break barriers and become the only African pop star to hit the number 1
spot for weeks on end, on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts.
Suagrboy, DJ Shabsy and Kiss Daniel.(Press)
Why change a winning
formula? Why switch a great creative pattern for something this is
uncertain? Why fix a thing that is not broken?
It’s
the same for everyone else. You come into the industry, work your ass
off to infuse top-shelf artistry into your craft. Your songs fail to
impress. People move on, the general populace ignore your ways. Finally,
you get the attention with a good song, but it fails to spark an
increase in your earnings. Everyone points in your direction and says
‘you are a great singer’. On twitter, and websites, you make multiple
lists. But the money does not match the hype. When it comes, it’s in
trickles.
Finally, you test the waters, dumb down
the music, and water down your artistry to the rhythm of a beat. That
song blows, you make insane money, and become comfortable. Would you
switch that formula that brought in the dough? No! You embrace it, love
it, kiss it, own it, and grow as a pop artiste. To hell with
recognition, the money is relevant.
Small Doctor
That’s why the music
is what it is. Good music is not appreciated and supported with money.
Hype stays hype, and your growth is stifled. People try to make you stay
on your course, and provide rare examples of other artistes who have
exhausted the industry quota for good music. They call Asa and Timi
Dakolo as examples of what you can become. What they fail to tell you is
that Asa isn’t Nigerian. She simply utilizes Nigerian content to play
in the Parisian hub of sounds, and Europe. Timi Dakolo is probably the
only true success story. But when the bigger picture is examined and
analysed his success is negligible, and if he is taken out of the
picture, the average success rate for ‘good’ music crashes precipitously. How about Adekunle Gold? He is recycling Highlife for the mainstream market.
But
look the way of the pop stars, and you see the rulers of the scene.
People who command the shows, and have a greater chance of breaking
through. In 2014 alone, we got Yemi Alade, Sean Tizzle, Skales and
Patoranking. 2015 gave us Kiss Daniel and Tekno.
Photos from Patoranking's "GOE" album press conference(Pulse)
Then there’s the
issue of the fans. An overwhelming majority of good music fans fail to
put their pockets where their mouth is. Artistes are left to glow and
wallow in their shallow recognition. But they won’t commit to buying
albums, streaming the songs, and paying premium for content.
The
good music artiste has no choice to go pop and get the money bags
rolling. It’s a business after all, and the return on investment should
be present for anything to make sense and stay sustainable.
There’s
hardly any big bucks in Nigerian ‘good music’. Bad music has all the
money, the numbers, the fans, the fame, and the success stories. Until
that changes, it will become our reality.
Source: Pulse.ng
I swear down this article dey make sense finally. Even the few artistes wey dey try make good music sef, dem no dey reach the level of the others. Lol una dey expect me to call names, una plan don fail o. The industry don grow wella sha from what it used to be, definitely we go reach the next stage..na small small!
#dontakeitP
No comments:
Post a Comment