I might as well digress from the
start. I ought not to be the one
writing this because for starters,
I am not an artist and I am
definitely not an expert of the
music industry or any industry
for that matter. But someone has
to say something and I’ve got
the microphone now. We have
put our super stars in a box
where they can hardly share
their opinions on an issue
without such opinions being
deemed as them hating on the
successes of others or being
condemned as some sort of
subliminal. That leaves us in a
place where such people would
rather keep their thoughts to
themselves. In writing this, one
sought the opinion of some top
artists, all of whom currently
have songs on the top ten and
one also got the opinion of some
soon to be great performers too.
Some of their thoughts are
crystallized in my own words
below.

Gone are the days where the
Nigerian or African music
consumer is excited about a
collabo between our artists and
those from across the ocean,
mostly from the U.S. Hip-Hop
community. We have seen 2face
and R-Kelly, we have seen
D’Banj and Snoop Dogg, P-
Square and Rick Ross, Vector
and Movado, Akon and
everybody, Davido and Meek Mill
and down to the most recent
one, Wizzy, Skepta and Drake.
Some of the tracks that came off
such collaborations came off as
great, some just there
somewhere above mediocrity
and for some others, their place
in oblivion will never be
threatened. Best forgotten.

This piece is hardly about the art
as it is about the business end of
such collaborations. Whether the
featured artist phones in his/her
part of the track or actually gets
into the studio to do the
recording, at the bottom of each
move is the desire to make a
name for one self and also cash
some money. One for the money!

We can take it from the point of
an artist who is already doing
great numbers on the continent.
When such an artist features say
a Jay Z on a new track, the
purpose has to then go beyond
being recognized or respected on
the continent. At the point
D’banj and Don Jazzy had
Snoop Dogg on Endowed remix,
they were arguably bigger on the
continent than Snoop was so
one cannot claim that the
collaboration was to make the
then Mo’Hits artists bigger. It
raised their street cred no doubt
but Snoop Dogg will not make
Africans buy an African artist
they are already very much into.
It did help D’banj’s resume that
he had some relationship with
Snoop when Kanye West came
calling; that feature had
bolstered his resume. Akon has
been on tracks with WizKid, P-
Square, D’Banj, Davido (and
others too numerous to
mention) and many would
probably even consider him
some sort of African artist now.
But today, virtually all the artists
who featured Akon are doing
better in African clubs than Akon
is. Does featuring Akon boost
your resume? Of course yes!
Does it add to your popularity in
Africa if you are say a P Square
or Davido? Not much.[b]I might as well digress from the
start. I ought not to be the one
writing this because for starters,
I am not an artist and I am
definitely not an expert of the
music industry or any industry
for that matter. But someone has
to say something and I’ve got
the microphone now. We have
put our super stars in a box
where they can hardly share
their opinions on an issue
without such opinions being
deemed as them hating on the
successes of others or being
condemned as some sort of
subliminal. That leaves us in a
place where such people would
rather keep their thoughts to
themselves. In writing this, one
sought the opinion of some top
artists, all of whom currently
have songs on the top ten and
one also got the opinion of some
soon to be great performers too.
Some of their thoughts are
crystallized in my own words
below.

Gone are the days where the
Nigerian or African music
consumer is excited about a
collabo between our artists and
those from across the ocean,
mostly from the U.S. Hip-Hop
community. We have seen 2face
and R-Kelly, we have seen
D’Banj and Snoop Dogg, P-
Square and Rick Ross, Vector
and Movado, Akon and
everybody, Davido and Meek Mill
and down to the most recent
one, Wizzy, Skepta and Drake.
Some of the tracks that came off
such collaborations came off as
great, some just there
somewhere above mediocrity
and for some others, their place
in oblivion will never be
threatened. Best forgotten.

This piece is hardly about the art
as it is about the business end of
such collaborations. Whether the
featured artist phones in his/her
part of the track or actually gets
into the studio to do the
recording, at the bottom of each
move is the desire to make a
name for one self and also cash
some money. One for the money!

We can take it from the point of
an artist who is already doing
great numbers on the continent.
When such an artist features say
a Jay Z on a new track, the
purpose has to then go beyond
being recognized or respected on
the continent. At the point
D’banj and Don Jazzy had
Snoop Dogg on Endowed remix,
they were arguably bigger on the
continent than Snoop was so
one cannot claim that the
collaboration was to make the
then Mo’Hits artists bigger. It
raised their street cred no doubt
but Snoop Dogg will not make
Africans buy an African artist
they are already very much into.
It did help D’banj’s resume that
he had some relationship with
Snoop when Kanye West came
calling; that feature had
bolstered his resume. Akon has
been on tracks with WizKid, P-
Square, D’Banj, Davido (and
others too numerous to
mention) and many would
probably even consider him
some sort of African artist now.
But today, virtually all the artists
who featured Akon are doing
better in African clubs than Akon
is. Does featuring Akon boost
your resume? Of course yes!
Does it add to your popularity in
Africa if you are say a P Square
or Davido? Not much.[/b]I might as well digress from the
start. I ought not to be the one
writing this because for starters,
I am not an artist and I am
definitely not an expert of the
music industry or any industry
for that matter. But someone has
to say something and I’ve got
the microphone now. We have
put our super stars in a box
where they can hardly share
their opinions on an issue
without such opinions being
deemed as them hating on the
successes of others or being
condemned as some sort of
subliminal. That leaves us in a
place where such people would
rather keep their thoughts to
themselves. In writing this, one
sought the opinion of some top
artists, all of whom currently
have songs on the top ten and
one also got the opinion of some
soon to be great performers too.
Some of their thoughts are
crystallized in my own words
below.

Gone are the days where the
Nigerian or African music
consumer is excited about a
collabo between our artists and
those from across the ocean,
mostly from the U.S. Hip-Hop
community. We have seen 2face
and R-Kelly, we have seen
D’Banj and Snoop Dogg, P-
Square and Rick Ross, Vector
and Movado, Akon and
everybody, Davido and Meek Mill
and down to the most recent
one, Wizzy, Skepta and Drake.
Some of the tracks that came off
such collaborations came off as
great, some just there
somewhere above mediocrity
and for some others, their place
in oblivion will never be
threatened. Best forgotten.

This piece is hardly about the art
as it is about the business end of
such collaborations. Whether the
featured artist phones in his/her
part of the track or actually gets
into the studio to do the
recording, at the bottom of each
move is the desire to make a
name for one self and also cash
some money. One for the money!

We can take it from the point of
an artist who is already doing
great numbers on the continent.
When such an artist features say
a Jay Z on a new track, the
purpose has to then go beyond
being recognized or respected on
the continent. At the point
D’banj and Don Jazzy had
Snoop Dogg on Endowed remix,
they were arguably bigger on the
continent than Snoop was so
one cannot claim that the
collaboration was to make the
then Mo’Hits artists bigger. It
raised their street cred no doubt
but Snoop Dogg will not make
Africans buy an African artist
they are already very much into.
It did help D’banj’s resume that
he had some relationship with
Snoop when Kanye West came
calling; that feature had
bolstered his resume. Akon has
been on tracks with WizKid, P-
Square, D’Banj, Davido (and
others too numerous to
mention) and many would
probably even consider him
some sort of African artist now.
But today, virtually all the artists
who featured Akon are doing
better in African clubs than Akon
is. Does featuring Akon boost
your resume? Of course yes!
Does it add to your popularity in
Africa if you are say a P Square
or Davido? Not much.

It is a false assumption to think
that by featuring T.I. you have
broken into the American
market. Not that easy except T.I.
goes out of his way to put that
song on his own album and you
are on tour with him to promote
the said track. How have
featured International artists
treated virtually all the collabos
with African artists? Like
something they’d rather forget
as soon as the production was
done. You don’t see them
tweeting links to the song as
they would features with their
contemporaries in America. You
do not see them big up such
tracks on Hot 97 or other
respected Hip-Hop platforms in
America.

At times, it does feel like a
relationship between a guy and
a sex worker. You pay for the
service, she serves you, and you
are out. The hooker does not
reference you, your relationship
ended after you paid. The sex
was nothing but her doing her
job. You had fun, she had
money! The relationship
between our artists and these
International acts is not as
graphic but anyone who is
sincere enough would get the
drift; the International artist gets
his/her cash, does the motions
and is off. No promotion, no
sustained acknowledgement on
social media and zilch mentions
on U.S. radio on television
networks.

There is a next step to these
transatlantic collaborations. Let
me state that we are closer into
breaking into the U.S. market
today than we were say five
years ago. I mean, even Jay Z
used Nigeria’s Hip-Hop market
to prop up some reputation for
his Tidal! So we are close but we
could remain close for the next
five years and not actually break
in if we are just okay with
featuring these artists and not
looking to cash in on such
collabos in the American market.

Collaborations should come with
agreements that include
expectations on the featured
artist’s post-studio work. Why
feature an artist who’s got a
combined 10 million Twitter,
Facebook, Instragram and
YouTube fans if such will not
sign up to post links to our
feature across all those channels
on an agreed number of times?
Our artists also need to commit
the artists to TV and radio
mentions. This music business
is more of a business today than
it is music; is that not why those
involved in the business are
making more money than most
of those making the music?

We are desperate to see a home
boy or girl break into the U.S.
market. It is more likely to
happen via a collabo with an
established star (say Rihanna)
than with a solo effort. See what
the Beyonce feature did to
Chimamanda Adichie and Aunty
Ngozi no be artist o. Breaking
into the U.S. market is one thing,
sustaining it is another but we
can have that discussion after
we break in.

According to PwC, the global
music revenue for 2015 is
expected to be $48 billion . That
is some $18 billion above
Nigeria’s average yearly
national budget. The U.S.
market share of that is $15
billion. Note that revenue is not
the same as investment. Our
industry is not yet a $1 billion
industry . Can we offer the
featured artists more than the
cash they get paid? We cannot
at the moment. The African
music industry is still at an
inchoate stage at best and the
numbers are not juicy enough for
an established U.S. artist to
want to commit to. The
potentials are vast and with
increasing Internet penetration,
our artists and other
stakeholders can start making
top dollar from the digital sales
of their content. For now, what
the International act gets is the
cash at hand, but can our artists
start making their dollars count
beyond being able to say “I have
featured several International
stars” in an interview to saying
on U.S. TV, “I am not a one hit
wonder. I have produced several
hits in Africa and I am sure I will
add more hits to my current
track enjoying airplay across
America.” It is possible if we
start thinking along that line.

source: http://notjustok.com/2015/07/20/nigerian-artists-and-international-collabos-whats-next-by-omojuwa/