Ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome to the new game in town. For better or for worse, our music “industry” is embracing a new form of art. The focus has shifted almost entirely from making music to something else. Now the transition is finally complete and the sync word here is LIE. In Nigeria today, every artist needs a “lying” platform – or three, to reach their target audience. Years back, radio used to be the dominant “platform” for breaking new artists, you may say it is still important, but the radio is certainly no longer
the only game in town. It is becoming simply too limited, too expensive and too difficult to control to be the sole platform. A better and surer way to expose the artist to the public has been discovered. Now the artist with the biggest LIE has the bigger and better head start.
The
Nigerian music “industry” has now brought a vast array of gifted liars.
We have seen managers lying blatantly about the activities of their
artistes just to be noticed. So far, it is working for them here in
Nigeria. Our gullibility has made it too easy to become an artist here
in Nigeria. What was your reactions when Burna Boy tweeted about his new
songwriting deal with Universal Music Group? Did you notice how the
blogs went gaga congratulating him? If truly Burna Boy got a deal, why
didn’t Universal Music Group issue a statement to that effect? Well,
strange stuff has happened.
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Isn’t
the Nigerian music “industry” at risk with this lying game taken to
this new level? Is it no longer worth noting that the actual quality of
the artist’s songs should be a predominating factor in a decision to
recruit him as a songwriter? Why are we acting as if we don’t know that
Burna’s songs won’t find many readily available patronisers outside the
shores of Nigeria? If they do, they can only be appreciated by only a
few Nigerians. Even in cases where there is a proven audience for a
particular artiste’s work, it is not enough to make it a big deal to
corner a deal. As a musician reading this article, would you approach
Burna Boy to write you a song? Judging by what you’ve heard from him so
far! If you can’t, why would a foreign company with a long list of
songwriters employ him as a songwriter?
One
reason why there are no record labels in Nigeria is that a lot of our
music stakeholders are sentimental in their approach to the business.
The guys at Universal are not jokers. They are strictly in it for the
money. They don’t attach sentiments to their dealings. They know that
songwriting is not actually a business. There’s no financial element
attached to songwriting in itself. It is the job of the music publisher
to turn the song into something that can generate income. Can Burna’s
song guarantee the kind of financial returns we are talking about here?
How many CDs has he sold in Nigeria as an artist? I am not talking of
the free downloads of singles on blogs, but the copies of actual albums
he has sold. How many people have his album in their homes? The pink and
brown contract sneaked up on us on instagram could have been printed at
Oluwole. Until Universal Music Group authenticates these claims,
everything Burna has said could not be true. It is a shame that Nigerian
journalists will never see it necessary to investigate any issue before
plastering it all over their platforms. I was on set on Nigezie,
shooting the Etcetera Live TV show when the producer asked if I heard
about Burna Boy’s new deal with Universal Records. Right there and then,
I went online and checked the authenticity of the story. The first
thing I checked was if Universal Music Group issued any statement to
that effect. I wasn’t surprised that the story could only be found on
Nigerian websites. The websites of Universal in America, South Africa
and other countries had nothing suggesting they have anything with Burna
Boy. Their facebook pages said nothing too. There is an official
statement on every deal they have made. It is the norm with every
recording company in the world. You employ a songwriter who is like a
talent magnet; a record maker. Someone who brings forth the talent in
the singer. Someone whose role is to write songs that define the
artistes and give them a reason for existence and you keep that under
the carpet? It doesn’t make any sense. The truth is, there’s no song of
Burna that suggests he is anywhere close to being the kind of songwriter
we are talking about here. This guy sounds like he doesn’t want anyone
to pick out his lines.
Finally, it is very
important for all those with music interest to note that in this new LIE
eco-system of ours, there are three things a musician needs, and his
success or failure can be predicted almost entirely on the basis of how
many of these three things are in place. If you can provide a clean
sweep of three out of three, like Burna Boy, you’ll likely be signing a
record deal with Universal Music Group even without being able to hold
your notes vocally. If you’ve got two out of three, you will probably
get an offer, like some other artistes have claimed at different times.
Though it might not be exactly the deal you were hoping for. Bring only
one out of three and the best you can hope for is a polite invitation to
come back sometime in the distant future. So here are the three things
every Nigerian will pay for – the essential components to a successful
“Music Career” – 1.LIE, 2.LIE and 3.LIE!
