It has remained evident, since the golden days of African China, Daddy Showkey, Mad Melon – circa early 2000s -, street pop has clinched a fond position in the hearts of Afrobeats lovers. Despite the negative stereotypes that have trailed it since Afrobeats began its global reign, the iconic genre remains the soundtrack of solace for the masses.
With the advent of technological innovations surrounding the distribution chain of music in Nigeria, especially with zero anti-piracy frameworks and rising global demand for the music, underrated genres like street-pop music have continued to see a boom in market acceptance, touring opportunities and other sales funnels.
Among the key chaperones of this next era of street-pop music is the bohemian music label and distribution services firm, Dapper Music, which has bolstered the rise of great street-pop artistes like Seyi Vibez, Shallipopi, TI Blaze, Skibii, among many others. What drives Dapper Music, its founder Damilola Akinwunmi notes, is its resilience and dedication to making a difference within Africa’s hallowed music halls.
Apart from creating great impact with its label services, especially in releasing chart-topping songs for its artistes, Dapper Music has equally peaked its performance as a renowned music distribution company in Nigeria.
Navigating the core of Dapper Music’s operations in a sit-down with Guardian Music, Akinwunmi delves deep into the take-off era of the company, in 2012; especially adhering to its key missions of revolutionizing music distribution in Nigeria, as well as retaining local culture in our biggest music exports, and much more.
How did you dabble into this whole music business?
I don’t know. I think he found me to be fair. I know it sounds cliche, but pretty much. I think just like everybody else that ended up here, most people didn’t plan it. From being a kid, I used to play instruments. As a kid, I played the saxophone, the clarinets, and a little bit of the drums. While I was just always around music, like, from being a child, I was captain of my band in primary school captain of my band in high school. So, I was always around music. When I started feeling like I wanted to be in the music industry was probably in 2012. Right from just being in university. And we went on strike for like six months, because I went to University of Lagos. So within those six months, I was just bored. And I’m like, what am I going to do? So I joined a group. We were into photography and talent management. The group was called Phase media, with like, six of my other friends from high school, because we all went from the same high school to the same university.. So we started managing artists. I also started managing an artist I discovered called Dotman and he blew up.
What did you study at UNILAG?
I was studying Sociology at the time. So I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.
Were you trying to also explore other ventures?
To be honest, no, I wasn’t. Music was a side gig at the time and school was the only thing one could think about. So, obviously, I started before I finished school. And when I finished school, it was easy to just transition and just be doing this. And, luckily for me,
I think this was in 2016 during my National youth service. I got a job at a time management company. I worked there for two years and seven months. So, technically, I was already getting paid for being in the music industry from that time. So it was it was a bit easy to just transition and just make this my full time gig. So it was while I was at the company that I figured out that I wanted to do my own thing and start my own company, sign my own artists and just take it from there.
When did that decision crystallize into Dapper Music?
Well, technically, the company is about four years old. So that’s around 2019. But in the early days of dapper music, I would say it was 2018 when I distributed my first song officially solo. So, at that time, I realized that the music industry had started going digital. In fact, it had already gone digital, globally, but obviously just like every other thing, Africa was almost the last to benefit. But I mean, if you’re paying attention, you can already tell the trends. So at the time, I was just an artist manager with the dreams of starting my own label, and developing big artists. One of the things I would pride myself in at that time was being able to develop an artist; I could spot talents before even entering the studio with them. Back then that was what used to excite me. I realized I was becoming an adult. I need to make money now. It wasn’t about just following your passion. What are the ways that one can monetize their knowledge in the music industry, I asked myself. And so I started distributing music. I started reaching out to people, and I pitched to distribute their music. So, at the time, it wasn’t called anything. It wasn’t called Dapper Music. It was just me as an individual calling myself a distributor and distributing people’s music. So, that was in 2018. After doing it for almost two years, I actually started making this into an actual business.
Dapper Music seems to have a penchant for music that’s very accepted in the streets, why?
Well, if you’re talking about Dapper music, I can understand. However, Dapper Digital is a distribution company with distribution for every kind of artistes. So, in terms of distribution, I don’t think we have a limit in terms of the range of the kind of music we distribute. But if you’re talking about the label and the management service, I would say, and also, we have other artists that are not necessarily street artistes. I believe the reason why people look at it like that is because our flagship artists, which are street artistes. Also, it was a thing of us, being the underdogs at the time. We had to literally develop these artists, for us to sign them. It’s not really the same thing like when major record labels come in and sign who is already hot and whatnot. So, it’s like we had to refine the diamond in the rough, and just make it acceptable by people.
How is Dapper Music making a difference in the music scene?
In terms of making a difference, one of the main things to me is
retaining our African culture. I feel like Afrobeats is becoming a bit diluted, because there’s been a loss of local investments in the genre and there’s foreign appeal, as well. So, it’s almost like everybody putting out music is trying to make music to appeal to the outside world. And that’s cool. You know, obviously, everybody wants to make a lot of money. Everybody wants to export our culture. But also, we have to make sure that we retain the culture; we have to make sure that it’s as original as possible. And another thing that is so important to me is the fact that there are so many talented artists out there, but there’s nobody giving them the chance that they need to actually blow up. So, I feel like obviously the guys coming from outside of the country can only see what’s at the top level. What we are doing is giving a chance to the young people that nobody’s going to look at and give a chance to shine.
It’s like, ‘oh, this person looks like this. I don’t know what we can do with this person.’ We are giving them a voice and a platform. So for me, it’s not necessarily about following trends or looking at where the trend is going. I mean, trends come and go. Genre-stan trends come and go. But I think the main thing for us is just to make sure that we are even setting these trends. It’s not necessarily about following anybody’s trend, or whatever anybody’s doing out there. I’m a fan of almost everybody in the industry. You know, I said, I’m a fan of even my own artists as well, like for me to actually sign them. It’s not necessarily just about making money, but is also about the fact that I love them. I love their music so much and I want to work with them. I want to see how I can develop something special and take people to the next level.
What are your thoughts towards making more indigenous holistic local platforms for music consumption?
I always borrow a page from Kanye West. So there’s an interview that Kanye West did with The Breakfast Club six years ago and in it he was asked, ‘Why do you need the big corporations in the fashion world?’ He said ‘because I’m trying to make a difference. And without these people, you can’t actually make a difference.’ It’s cool to just create merchandise on his own and sell it directly to his fans. But, obviously, it wasn’t the same. When he partnered with Adidas, he started selling en masse. So, you can’t change in a day. You can’t change it in just your lifetime. So, you have to actually join them. And they say, if you can’t beat them, you have to join them. Before you get that platform to be operating on the same level technologically as what is already on ground is a lot of work. And a lot of money. You might change some things, but actually creating your own platform? I don’t know. I stand to be corrected. I think, for me, it is most important right now to partner up with whoever is already doing it at the major scale and making sure that we’re getting what we deserve and we are being represented well. I think the main thing is just making sure that being in those rooms you’re representing the collective and not just yourself.
What would you say is your secret to discovering great musicians?
Well, I think that’s my ‘It factor’. It’s unexplainable. I just know when I see it. What’s the most important thing about living but to live through your God given ability? I heard that from a Jay-Z interview. And that has always stuck with me since I heard it. And it’s like, that’s what really matters in life and not necessarily about making money, but living out your life through your God given ability. You see so many people in this life that make so much money, but they’re not happy. They don’t even feel fulfilled. When you realize that you can do so many other things for money, why are you doing what you’re doing? So it’s just making sure that you do it to the best of your ability. And when you’re done, you’re actually done. And some people have been lucky enough to have multiple talents. And they do something for a while before they discover that they are good at something else and they continue that. So, for me at the moment, it is signing artists, promoting artists, developing artists, strategizing for artists and it’s a talent to me. I don’t think about it too much.
