Major Record Labels Not Likely Future Of Nigerian Music

Major record labels may not the way of the future in Nigerian music industry after all.

The Nigerian music industry is soaring in popularity across the continent and beyond. The world has taken notice; our stars are touring, playing numerous venues and raking in the money.

Back home, we are also experiencing a change, as the music industry has been bemoaning its fate, whilst the costs of promoting artistes and their songs keep rising while album sales decrease. It seems that it's facing a slow, self-inflicted implosion. Many will blame the death of album sales on the internet and the increasingly easy access that listeners have to free music. Independent record labels or as we currently refer to it in Nigeria – one man record labels - , on the other hand, are currently making a killing in the market. They are also taking advantage of the public attention that the Internet brings to their artists. According to independent record labels, business is booming and prospects have never looked better.

Marvin Rcords

Independent labels in Nigeria, are movements put together by an artiste or an investor who signs an artiste and fund the project with the help of a team. They currently fund the Recordings, Production, distribution, music videos, photography, advertising, tours, and merchandisen of that artiste. See what D’Tunes did with Sean Tizzle, and Foston Music for Patoranking.

Although with the funding, the independent labels are working their way around a budget. They are clever enough to avoid crazy expenses from playtime by commercial radio stations. Major labels have to pay from N400,000 up for promotions, in order to get one song on air. Small indie labels tend not to even approach large commercial stations as they know that they can't afford all the promotion costs that are included in the deal. They prefer to work with university and public radio stations that are usually more receptive to various classes of music that is not mainstream and conformist.

Olamide, Lil Kesh and Adekunle Gold

Another marketing strategy that has helped to increase the success of these small record labels is that they target people more via social media. Many artists are adopting a more extreme independent approach by forming their own record labels. This allows them to have complete creative control over the record making process and is the ultimate in self-expression for any indie artist. All they need is funding from an investor, and they can handle the rest. That’s why you see artiste label splits becoming rife over the past five years. 

Most upcoming artists think that getting a deal with a major label will be their ticket to the big time and that the money will come rolling in. In fact, artists have to really become big and command hundreds of shows before they start seeing their share of the profits, as their studio time and all of the "perks" of the business, such as the new cars, are charged against their income from shows and digital sales. These payments might also be heavily weighted in favour of the label. Many artists are surprised to find that they earn only make 20% of every income.

Compare that to a smaller indie label, which with careful planning and budgeting, is able to keep marketing and overhead expenses within a manageable range. With expenses down, when the act blows up, the profit margin is larger. They also have fairer profit sharing deals, often splitting profits equally between the label and the artist.

One of the biggest and perhaps most distinguishing differences between indie and major labels is that indie labels let artists keep the rights to their work. The sponsor just needs to get his percentage and ROI, while large labels with more control have the option of not releasing any music an artist has recorded, and all the while the artist remains bound to them by contract and can't sign up with any other label or release music independently. The artist is taken out of the public eye and effectively has his or her career terminated at the whim of the label. 

Many experts involved in the Nigerian music industry have predicted that major record labels are becoming extinct. They attribute this mainly to the large labels' inability to read and react to activity in the music market quickly. Analysts are of the opinion that Wizkid’s independent flexibility is one of the core reasons why he is growing internationally. Large labels create such red-tapes and processes around their artists that it takes them too long to react to an industry change, and change their marketing strategy. Conversely, if an artist is getting recognition, it takes the label too long to get a large promotional and marketing strategy off the ground. Indie labels, on the other hand, are ideally placed to take advantage of industry movements, as they are small and can move quickly to capitalise on opportunities or invest in some damage control.

With more cases proving to many acts that the way of the indie labels are better, many acts are currently not looking to get signed. They are simply in the market for a sponsor, who open their checkbooks and let the funds flow for the projects and promotional campaigns. They will rather have a small mobile team that are always on their feet and poised to adapt, than a big machinery that slows down their work, and delays their success.

This is the future of Nigerian music. This is what we are about.