Growing Nigeria’s Showbiz Industry

No doubt, the entertainment industry in Nigeria has attained deserved respect and global recognition. From that humble beginning when artistes practically begged for fund to support their career to the point when corporate organisations stepped in with mega-bucks, the industry has climbed through stages of desirable developments. And through this transformation, some remarkable factors and innovations stand out.

Over the years, it has been a steady but progressive journey to a destination of superlative acceptance for homemade sounds and music of indigenous flows and languages. Little is remembered of the time when albums and hits of international charts took the larger part of our shelves; the period when foreign artistes took the shine with pride, even replacing themselves as rave of the moment in our musical consciousness.

The likes of Craig David, Sean Paul, Usher, Joe, Destiny Childs and others bring memories of that era of dominance of foreign songs at home and even in the clubs. It is on record that at a particular time the African sounds of Makossa enjoyed a proud share of the dominance, parading artistes such as Awilo Logomba, Koffi Olomide and the Premier Gaou crew. What beat the imagination of many is that, though the lyrics of these songs were in French and not English, it did not stop them from ranking high and claiming a place in the archives of some of the country’s most danced songs of those times.

Whether deliberately or coincidentally, it is a fact that the advent of an all round telecommunication system in Nigeria occurred during the time of our musical independence; and has certainly enabled its easy journey towards the present state where indigenous sounds and local artistes have gradually replaced foreign artistes and their songs. The transformation has seen the country take a lead role in placing Nigeria and Africa’s sound and music strongly on the world scene

Apart from the consciousness of the need to embrace home made sounds, technological innovations also affected the traditional means of music distribution and consumption, which involves a process of hard copy sale and distribution of music in bulk. It was time for this old form of storage and distribution to give room for a more advanced system that is not only more conducive but easier to manage.

As the industry grew, several corporate organisations, while finding their way into the heart of their esteemed customers, have had to connect to the growing music industry. The coming of MTN Project Fame announced a giant and bold step of a daring business entity that believes in beating the odds. Achieving the feat of becoming the biggest distributor of Nigerian music in the country was perhaps the winning code for the telecommunication company in this compulsory synergy period with the entertainment industry.

Aside from paying royalties to deserving artistes through its caller tunes, through the ring back tones launched in 2008 as a revenue stream, MTN harnessed the huge potentials in an innovation that has turned out to be safely rewarding to both the artistes and the industry. Today, it has become one of the largest distribution platforms for music content in Nigeria.

The caller tunes provided Nigerian artistes with a concrete means to monetise their content and enjoy a full reward for their labour, since it was impossible for the songs on the service to be pirated or duplicated. It is worthy to note that in the last three years, over 80 percent of Nigerian music industry earnings has come from the telcos (MTN, Globacom, Etisalat), Nigeria Breweries Plc and other corporate giants, who have contributed to making our local artistes wealthier through brand endorsements, shows and music downloads.

At the global level, according to the Record Industry Association of America, ringtone downloads is already a global $10 billion business.
In 2013 for instance, the subscription to the caller tunes service of MTN Nigeria alone reached the 17 million-subscriber mark and currently stands at over 39 million subscribers. In 2014, MTN generated N5 billion, which it paid as royalties for Nigerian music Artistes, who sell their contents as caller tunes on its platform.

Despite these successes, the venture has not gone without challenges. For instance, a couple of artistes have claimed damages arising from what they described as infringement on their copyrights. Others have laid claims to contractual inconsistency that which has resulted in the cancellation of some of the deals. However, on a larger scale, these isolated cases are not enough to water the achievements of this noble venture; an age of unbeatable spends on endorsement deals

In 2012, MTN Nigeria launched its first endorsement deal when it hired the services of pop singer Davido as the ambassador of MTN Pulse in a deal reportedly worth N30m. The following year, past winners of the MTN Project fame Inyaya, Mike, Chidinma and Praiz got deals of N40m, N10m, N20m and N20m respectively. For sure, the industry will not forget in a hurry the famous move of Hafeez Oyetoro (Saka), who ported from Etisalat to MTN Nigeria in a deal reportedly worth N25m. Others who got on board the largesse about the same time were Wiz Kid, Tiwa Savage, K-Cee and Don Jazzy.

Particularly, the Project Fame has sustained itself not only because it enrich the participants financially, but simply because the motives behind the programme. Since its inception, the platform has churned out talents and revealed sublime music potentials to Nigeria and the world. The discovery of the likes of Chidinma, Praiz, Iyanya, Mike and others, have proven an undisputable fact that Nigeria artistes can hold their own against their foreign counterparts if given equal training and attention.

The immediate rise to fame and fortune and sustained consistency of proud products of this academy is also another testimony that our very own local talent, sound and even music has come to stay and for good.