THE NIGERIA MUSIC INDUSTRY AND THE UPCOMING ARTISTS.

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Music talents have been refining their craft making a lot of mistakes along the way and now they are well better than it used to be. But that's not really the case for the business side of music and that's why very few artists are consistent with hits, most hits are relatively not as big as in the American Music Industry and most labels lives are very short. And also, this is the reason why there are law suits between labels and artists everywhere. This is because the business side has been slow to develop. It takes talent and grooming to be a manager or label head. Passion and love is not enough. You have to have a good ear for music. You need good understanding of the art, creative and business parts. Added advantage is having good understanding in macro economics and politics. A good example of this is Clive Davis that brought us Whitney Houston and many big names. He was so good that at 85years of age was Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment. So we hav...
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Davido's US Press Tour: Can He Break Into The Global Market

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Truth be told every artist's dream is  to get what Davido is trying to achieve. They want to be mainstream in the US, win major Grammy awards, and every good thing that comes with these. They've all dreamt of it. And there are a lot of people who think this is achievable. For example, I read an article on notjusktok.com that was very hopeful, so, that says it all, a lot of people are hopeful. I mean notjustok is one of the major music blogs in Nigeria. So, is it possible?

Davido

It's simple. Why isn't rock music or country music selling in Nigeria? Because it's not our thing.I mean gone are the days when people thought they could sell alternative sounds in Nigeria. A lot of people have spent their money in vain and learnt the hard way and now, unlike then, when people were adamant, no one even raps in English anymore! Even though it's our official language! Now everybody wants to do a naija thing. So also it applies in this case: Naija music ain't their thing; even though they appreciate music more than us, like to explore and have more money to spend.


 
Wizkid
I'm I just analysing with no direct example to back it up? Well then, there is one that is still vivid. Wizkid. When he was topping the charts with Drake, people were hopeful but I knew a long time ago that it won't go far. He tried to meet up with the expectation with the subsequent singles he dropped but soon realized he wasn't and wouldn't go anywhere with it (he even tried in that he added some Naija thing) and that he would loose his Naija fans if he continued. Then soon afterwards, CNN (or BBC I think) did a little feature on himand there he stated that he wasn't really concerned about breaking into the US but was only concerned about making music to make people happy. But we all know that's not true. Every artists dream is to be at the highest level achievable.




A long time ago, a wise man made this point clear, bluntly, without any hesitation. And it's this kind of wisdom that has got him this far. This man is 2baba. When he was the rave of the moment in 04/05, he was in an interview on MTV Base when the reporter brought up this notion of breaking into the US market. Even though his style of music was more accessible to the Americans than Wizzy's and Davido's, he insisted again and again that his focus was only the Naija audience.

So you see, you have to be sincere with yourself. Can you really do their thing, infusing your thing to show originality especially with our immature stucture, where there are a lot of people and things not in place to assist the artist? And can you do this after you have moulded yourself to fit perfectly in the Naija market?

Therefore, the thing is, many artists still have that dream but the truth is, it's only a Mirage. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying a fluke is not possible ( and even this is extremely unlikely) but that's where it ends - a fluke.

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