April 2018

The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve www.thesparkng.com www.thesparkng.com The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve
The Role Of Music Labels
Wired In
There are two schools of thought; people who feel the music labels are a
waste of time and people who feel they are the foundation. Music labels
in Nigeria are not currently doing what they’re supposed to do. These
labels want to be the booking agent, the talent manager, the record label,
publisher, among others. The labels try to position themselves as all-inone
and that is one of the major challenges of operating with music labels
in Nigeria. I believe they should specialize in just producing music and
leave the rest to the specialist experts in distribution, publishing, booking,
etc. Doing the right thing will help them protect their investments. They
can have royalties and percentages across board which means higher
profits for all. It is important to re-focus the labels in the vein, as the issues
you find are primarily due to the labels being stretched thin, fingers in
every pie, and doing everything but actual music production!
Forming Strategic Partnerships For Growth
There are quite a number of partnerships across the different sectors. In
music distribution, there are those who do the distribution of hard copies
(CD and DVD) and those who do it digitally like Spotify, Cloud 9, iTunes,
etc. It is becoming a bit easier because these platforms constantly look
for content, regardless of the popularity. The world is going digital and
rightly so, artistes should ensure that they can follow the new trend of
digital distribution, from a knowledge and operational standpoint. I put
knowledge before operations, simply because of the sheer number of
failed partnerships, ventures and music deals. It’s easy to point fingers
and lay blame, but the foundation of most music partnerships are based
on shaky grounds. Take a label, working to do and become everything
from distribution to branding to road management to everything, and
justifying this with increased ‘share’. The artiste will at some point, feel
the amounts generated by his/her brand and talents, are not reaching
him/her from a personal standpoint. This is where the ‘What did you sign’
and ‘Contract review’ issues come up creating distrust, real or perceived
slights and the general breakdown in communication. There also remains
a significant responsibility for the artiste to clearly understand what sorts
of partnership terms and commitments he is willing to enter into, and
critically for how long.
There remains a need for strategic partnership, but the number one factor
should be transparency, following which knowledge gained and applied
can be used for mutually beneficial relationships. I’ve always believed in
professional advice for both artiste and label, which is one of the functions
our entity provides, from a position of strength garnered from years of
experience in both good and not so good strategic relations.
Working with Managers
The first thing you do before you hire/work a manager, is to get a Lawyer!
(Preferably one with experience in entertainment matters). Despite
the cumbersome and difficult legal process in Nigeria, the benefits
far outweigh any other issues. It is critical to define the performance
indicators of managers, and identify simple measuring tools for them.
Number of gigs, number of road shows, endorsement deals, etc. Simple
and quantifiable metrics will ensure that the review periods are seamless
and transparent. It is also important to note that the manager’s ability is
largely dependent on your talent. If you have quality content, it’s only
reasonable to expect some attention and buzz, which the manager will
harness and turn into monetization opportunities, wherein he gets paid.
I fully believe that a Manager/Artiste relationship should be a strategic
partnership, with both parties having skin in the game to ensure goal
congruence. This eliminates issues of pricing, transparency and drives
collective behaviour.
Financial Prudency Regardless Of The Glitz And Glam
There is a certain level of opulence the music industry promotes. However,
it is important to note that even Superstars live in moderation! Sure you
“
Nowadays, organisations pay for
positive social media influence.
They are moving from music
artistes to influencers. Build your
base of influence.
“
can buy expensive designer wear for the biggest red carpet, but daily, it’s
better to be in the studio in tee and jeans, trust me no one will check your
labels. Artistes who started from scratch and made a name for themselves,
are quite well off, but yet have decorum and prudence with their finances
and purchases. You will find them in some glitzy razz matazz, but it’s all for
the ‘camera’ as they say, and when they get home, it’s grinding and more
music. I have been privileged to work with a few of them, and honestly
the glitziest thing you can do is continue to make chart topping music,
everything else is for the ‘gram’ and therefore not as important. These
guys know the value of money and try not to abuse it. My advice is for new
artistes to try to align with the financial management and economic savvy
of these artistes. You can have the glitz and glam but focus on delivering
value through your content and you will be fine.
Getting Your First Endorsement Deal Through Social
influence
The idea of endorsement only started getting popular about five years
ago, and before then, artistes were making it big. You can’t have just
one or two hit songs and then feel it’s good enough to start getting
endorsement deals. Companies don’t just throw endorsements away,
there is always an objective. And if you figure out what the objectives of
the company are, you can then tailor yourself to be an ambassador for
that brand.
Nowadays, organisations pay for positive social media influence. They are
moving from music artistes to influencers. Build your base of influence,
pick two or three organisations with a problem you can solve through
your music or through your online influence and make a proposal. It all
still boils down to networking; who have you met, who do you know,
whose hands have you shook and who have you had a discussion with?
Those are the guys that will fight your battles for you.
Even if you’re not an artiste with popular music but you know how social
media works and you have millions of subscribers, you can begin to
monetise your followership. That is measurable impact for brands because
you can track response and reach to sponsored ads. If you are not selling
music, go social.
Giving Back Through Investment
Those who have succeeded reinvest in talent so they can control the
ecosystem. They look for talent that will come under them and start that
process all over again. That is the best way to reinvest, if you want to
remain in the industry. There are other ways to invest, but the best is to
groom people that you can control and then you can start a business
from there.
In Summary
Always seek professional help. Don’t assume you know everything and
don’t try to emulate everyone. Not all tactics are right. Find your own
grounds, sit with people who know the business, who understand the
business, communicate your objectives and then build a plan around it.
You can then just come over to Uber sponsorships and talk to us.
Innovation
and Music
Oye Akideinde is the co-founder of 360nobs
Limited, a technology driven marketing and
entertainment services firm. In this expose,
he talks about the innovations, trends and
future of the Nigerian music industry in this
technological driven era.
- By Oye Akideinde
The Future Of The Nigerian Music Industry
The demand for homegrown music has never been this high which has
helped to drive a creative and exploitative boom in the country’s
thriving music industry.
I believe it is headed in the right direction with production, composition,
music arrangement along with its support system (skillsets, distribution
platforms, music services, publishing, and touring), improving and getting
better structured.
Nigerian artistes are now collaborating internationally more and more.
The Big 3 (Sony, Universal and Warner) are divvying up our biggest and
most promising acts amongst each other. Our music keeps getting played
worldwide.
This growth can be tied to a number of factors working in
our favour;
• Home court advantage: Most of the songs or videos played on
radio; TV stations and public spaces are Nigerian music. Compared
to 10 years ago, the acceptance and demand for local music over the
international ones is simply amazing.
• The African diaspora: Consumers help drive popularity and virality
of music generally so by having a huge diaspora who hunger for
entertainment from home, Nigerian music has been successfully
exported in volumes to cater to the global market. Live events
like One Africa Music Fest have also turned out to become very
successful.
• The sound: Nigerian producers have been able to successfully fuse
African elements into hip-hop, reggae, soul, pop, RnB, dancehall
along with our own Nigerian and African genres.
• Size: The volume of music being churned out in Nigeria by artistes is
astounding.
Innovations to Look out For
Digitalization has affected the Nigerian music industry in a big way. As
music moves online, so does the consumer experience. Through
technology, artistes can now make music from their laptops and mobile
phones. They can also distribute to over 170 stores globally.
As we continue to see the Nigerian music industry grow, these are some of
the innovations I look forward to:
• Micropayments: Building a successful micropayment solution will act
as a driving force to grow music consumption and revenues for the
artistes. Nigeria and Africa continue to cry for that killer mobile
payment solution that works within our issues – offline, online,
banked, under-banked, and unbanked and will allow consumers the
freedom to utilize their digital wallets.
• New music services and apps: The opportunities for music related
apps in Nigeria is huge as the growth in Smartphone usage continue
to rise. As long as App developers can create killer apps that solve
problems, appeal or are very useful to Nigerians, adoption of these
apps will grow in tandem with the smartphone growth.
• Sound Engineering for Live Events: I see an opportunity to make the
sound quality at events better. Some of the events I have been to
have such terrible user experience and I know a lot of artistes who say
this is the reason why they rather mime to sound recordings than do
live performances.
• Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Live Streaming of Events: It
provides more access to those who can’t readily go and watch their
favourite artistes. It can also give musicians the valuable exposure
they need to be successful as it can be difficult for artistes to
physically tour and reach a wider audience, but with VR, AR, and live
streaming, they can be in more places than one. Imagine having
a sold out concert at Eko Hotel with over 10,000 attendees and a
further 100,000 experiencing it using a smartphone from the comfort
of their own homes.
Promoting Longevity In The Industry
There are a number of things that artistes and other game players in the
industry can do to ensure longevity in the music industry.
• See this as a career. Treat music like a proper job …like an 8 to 5.
• Be very hardworking, have the hunger to improve; and an insight into
the market you are releasing your records to.
• Be creative and innovative with your sound so it can appeal to
Nigerians.
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