April 2018

The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve www.thesparkng.com www.thesparkng.com The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve
Early Years
“I started in the industry about 16 years ago. When MTech started, I was
brought in to join the networking department, but I moved from that to
business development unit and took an interest in music which became
my focus”.
Chidi’s career advanced within the company leading to high profile
assignments such as the setup of the Abuja office to expand local
operations. He then grew to assume international responsibilities in Cote
d’Ivoire and Ghana. Within 8 months in Ghana, MTech became the number
1 VAAS provider in Ghana. After his stint in Ghana, he came back to
Nigeria to lead the MTech Group as Group CEO after Chika Nwobi stepped
down. During his time as Group CEO, Chidi successfully implemented
turnkey solutions that enabled MTech halt and reverse its negative growth
by focusing on the music industry.
“After a few years as Group CEO, I left Mtech to start Mcomm. I wanted to
focus more on the music industry; specifically, how to successfully leverage
mobile technologies to deliver value in the industry. Since 2011, when
we commenced operations, we’ve masterminded several digital content
releases, some of which were revolutionary at the time – such as use of
MTN’s mobile radio platform to launch new and exclusive music content.”
“We’ve built relationships with different artistes and have been behind
endorsement deals of some of the biggest artistes in the country, including
artistes like Davido, Wizkid, D’Banj, Mo’ Hits and so many more”. Mcomm,
has successfully and notably carved a niche for itself at the intersection
of music and technology and demonstrated, as evidenced by the various
industry awards on display in Chidi’s office.
“My background is in technology, and consequently, this plays a substantial
role in the solutions and services that we develop. For instance, our current
project, which is still in beta testing, leverages advancements in technology
– IoT, data analytics – in music distribution. I may be in the entertainment
business, but our work is facilitated by technology.”
Setbacks In The Industry
Chidi is an entrepreneur with significant experience across multiple
regions, this enables him to give insights into the challenges in the
industry. One of which, is poor access to talent development opportunities
in the industry. “In South Africa for example, if you’re talented, you have
access to the infrastructure you need to develop and harness your talent.
Young, school age children who realize they can sing, can access classes
designed and available to help children develop their talent. This is not an
opportunity readily available in Nigerian schools.”
in Nigeria to invest in the industry. “This is a long-term investment with
long term pay-offs,” he stated. “Building a state-of-the-art recording /
mixing and mastering studio will cost nothing less than 1.5m dollars for
equipment alone. It’s an expensive, but worthwhile venture. We need more
studios, purposely built concert venues and music streaming platforms
tailored for the local market.”
One of the reasons why some of our accomplished artistes travel to create
music is due to the availability of infrastructure abroad. He further stated
that international artistes are interested in creating music with us. “They
have said to us several times that if we had proper studios here, they’ll fly
to Nigeria to record with our artistes.”
Unfortunately, the music industry has not acquired the level credibility in
the eyes of investors as for instance, the oil and gas sector or agriculture.
It is still perceived by most as an industry of misfits. This is debatable,
however, misfits or not, the music industry has substantial influence with
commercial value domestically and internationally.
Leveraging Positivity In The Industry
“Our Nigerian artistes are doing well. In Africa, Nigeria arguably produces
the best music content. Our artistes are popular across the continent,”
Chidi stated. “We’re getting the attention required. The next frontier
necessitates that we develop capabilities to improve the quality of the
music (sound) to meet international standards. Our music has good
melody, but for some of our songs, foreign engineers usually have to
re-mix because they’re not mixed and mastered properly, so they don’t
sound right there. This also limits the growth of the industry. However,
access to the right infrastructure is not the only challenge. There is also
a paucity of the skill and “know-how” required to operate the types of
equipment I have been describing.”
Having said this, despite the challenges, African music still has something
unique to offer the world. “You may recall that D’Banj at a point was
signed to Kanye West’s label. What you may not know is how that came
about. D’banj and I met Kanye at the Dubai International airport and
D’Banj gave him tracks to listen to. He listened to five different tracks
and was immediately impressed with what he heard,” Chidi stated. To
him, international artistes have covered a lot of ground and are looking
for something new. We have Afrobeat, which is what they’re looking for.
Artistes need to stay true to their local sound.
In summary I see three key things that need to be addressed; access to
state-of-the art recording and sound equipment, purpose-built venues for
shows/concerts, etc. and digital music streaming platforms.
Every big player in the industry needs to be structured well enough so that
artistes can focus on their talent and how to make their music better. A
professional who is trustworthy can handle the business side and other
parts. It’s never possible to effectively do all because eventually, one part
will suffer.
The Role of Passion When Challenges Hit
I firmly believe that passion should be at the fore of whatever you do in
life. Not every venture will be profitable, with some projects, you’ll only
manage to recover your cost and some projects will just consume all of
your investment. However, if you are driven by passion, the experience will
be worthwhile and if you’re fortunate, prove a useful learning experience.
“Mcomm has executed projects that did not generate as much profitability
as we had planned at the onset, however, I believe that we have grown and
improved as an organisation through those experiences.”
In our environment, it is possible to be swayed by necessities rather than
passion. That’s why you hear statements like, “I just want to make money
so I can eat”. This kind of thinking does not engender the staying power
required to be successful in the long-term. New artistes may succeed in
creating one good hit, but if the passion for music isn’t present, sustaining
the career will be impossible because of the challenges that’ll come.
According to Chidi, when he talks to new Artistes who want to be bigger
than our established artistes, he looks out for the story behind what they
want to do. That’s how he judges their motives. “You can be 17 years of
age, but have a story that spans 7 years in music.”
A Future For New Artistes
Streaming would power the music industry’s growth in Africa. As smart
phone penetrations continue to rise and cost of data continues to dip,
an artiste can create music content, upload on the available streaming
platforms in the territory and if the audience likes it, he or she can
generate significant revenues. So now the onus lies on the said artiste to
create good content.
“There are numerous streaming platforms available in this territory,
Boomplay, Music plus, Cloud9, iTunes, Spotify and even YouTube. I would
always advise an upcoming artiste to endeavour to get their music
uploaded on all unless they are getting a special deal from one.”
“In other developed countries, artistes generate revenues when their
songs are played on the radios, shopping Malls, clubs, etc. Anytime a
song is played someone is making money. But in this part of the world we
are still catching up but clearly there are changes in the right direction.”
According to Chidi, the first thing is to discover yourself and package that
talent in a way you can show someone ready to help. Spend your time
developing your talent and always show that through the content you
create. You need to have a story because there are no overnight successes.
As the revenues generated in the Music Industry continues to rise, more
investors would be attracted to the sector. The industry would only get
bigger.
Free Recording Deal for One Talent
“To me, youth empowerment is basically the process of providing an
enabling environment or providing ways the youth can be encouraged to
take a hold on their lives better by using either their talents or resources.
But to make this easy, the infrastructure has to be in place and the
talented person has to be educated enough about what he or she wants
to do,” Chidi advised. At this point, he requested for one of his books to
be brought to his office.
“I’m looking out for raw talent,” Chidi stated. He is looking to help one
young music artiste reach greatness.
In the industry, you have to do the work. People will only support you as
an artiste when they see what you have created. “If you come to me as
an artiste and say you have talent, I’ll ask you to play me what you have.
This could be your unreleased tracks,” Chidi stated. “If I’m able to see that
there’s talent, then I can support.”
Unfortunately, to get to that point where the artiste has material, he must
have had some money to go to a recording studio, sit down, and pay for
studio time. “In Nigeria, it’s hard to get anyone to support you without
hearing anything. You need to put one leg forward first. And I know
getting this money can be difficult for many.”
The Importance of Structure
The reason why artistes love working with Mcomm is because of the
structure provided. A lot of artistes want to simultaneously be the
performing musician and manage their careers single-handedly, but it is
impossible to execute both roles simultaneously.
“One of the reasons why D’banj flourished and was so successful is because
he always had a solid team of professionals supporting him and whom he
allowed to manage the ‘business’.” Mcomm was part of this team and was
responsible for delivering business development objectives.
Again, because we have a limited number of studios here in Nigeria, a new
artiste can decide to record with his devices in his room, which only leads
to poor quality of work. “When such aspirants make such presentations, it
takes a real expert to spot the talent hidden behind poor quality technical
sound. We don’t have the tools, software and infrastructure. But despite
this, this industry has still flourished and produced great artists. Now
imagine what would be if the infrastructure were in place. The lack of
infrastructure also has an impact on established artists, specifically quality
of the sound reproduced on stage also affects the audience’s experience.
Chidi believes that this is an opportunity for foreign production companies
Similar to any successful business, music is no exception, a multi-functional
team is a prerequisite for success. Finance, legal, management are
essential to ensuring that there are enough unencumbered resources to
operate – in this case make music. “A friend of mine used to say, ‘ensure
you surround yourself with people smarter than you’. It’s wrong for me to
be the smartest guy in my company. If I am, then I’ll be in trouble. I may
be good at some things like sales, but I need someone who is the best
in technology, Finance etc. I cannot know everything, and this goes for
everyone else.”
Would you be the one? See page 33 for how to apply now.
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