Let me start by saying Talent Management is not a Job, IT IS A CALLING. Maybe Promotions is a job, but i repeat, Talent Management is not a job. My name is Olayinka Babawale Applause, I was Olamide Baddo’s PR for a bit before he blessed me with Lil Kesh just when he had just recorded Shoki. I will start by showing appreciation to every Blogger, Social Media PR, Dj, Alaba DJ, Alaba Marketer, Satellite and Local Tv stations, just everyone who was around at any point in time during the period of my 11 years stay in the industry.

Yes 11 years, i am sure you wondering why i quit. Smart people know when to move on.

As much as possible, i am not popular especially facially as i often get doubted whenever i introduce myself as Wale Applause, I guess i am a big man in a small body.

I started with Applause Magazine, then on and on the rest now is history. If i tell you say he easy, na set up.

Over time i have seen artiste rise and fall and rise again to fall again. I have seen artistes grow from baby to Giant, at least i created one ‘Lil Kesh’ myself before he thought i was no longer of use to him. He already became a star, i guess his career can tell the story now.

Why did i say this, it is because i am trying to pass a message to all new artistes, Never bite the hand that fed you. You see the thing about that manager that helped you ‘blow’ like we call it, NEVER EVER LET HIM GO IF YOU ARE NOT DOUBLE SURE OF A REPLACEMENT.

That manger that was with you when it was rough, that one that will stay awake even when you are sleeping, that’s what real love is, because you know what. Talent management entails giving up your life for someone else. For the first time, let me say this, i gave over 2 years of my life to Lil kesh, God used me and Olamide to make him a star. I remember well when i will put all my friends on the road, all the way from Sango to Elegushi to push Shoki. God bless my friend Dj Consequence, he knows the story.

There were many days i had to sleep in my rickety Honda, days my friends Aspen and the gang will go to the club to spend money just so Shoki can be played, those days when all that mattered to me was raising a king, Alas, HE SACKED ME.

As a talent manager, i need you to understand that you are giving your life away to that artiste you think you love so much, question is not if you are ready, the real question is if the artiste is worth it.

First my advice is this, as an artiste manager, Music to you is first a product not just a collection of sound. You need to understand that you are not the target market. You don’t have to like a song to push it, you just need to understand what market you are pushing the song to. I honestly did not like Shoki at first listen, but i knew the market to push it to, the kids because it sounded like Nursery rhyme. Every song has a target market, find it.

The music industry is a capital intensive one and believe me everyone is on the look out to collect money from you. Do not believe 2 faced OAPs like Osi of beat Fm, who come online to act all helpful. Trust me i have been there done that, he is part of the no pay, no show.

I trust him to be defensive about this when he reads this so i am going to give you an instance.

Before Lil Kesh, I was working with a super talented, humble kid named Spicy. We had a song Lenu produced by D’tunes. Now about D’tunes, he is one person you want to get close to. I wish he established a Talent management company because asides knowing how to make music, he knows how to sell music. Iyanya and Sean Tizzle are testimonies. D’tunes is one humble dude you need in your corner.

Here is a secret a lot of people will not tell you, the less popular you are as a talent manager, the more effective you will be. It makes it easy for you to get the job done. Do not go all about like Danku, you wont get anything done because instead of representing your artiste, you will be representing YOU.

Now back to the Osi matter, i waited till this day to tell the story. As a rookie manager back in the days, Osi was a rookie OAP too, i like to work with people like that because in my head we trying to help each other grow, i thought wrong. Back when Osi used to be the errand boy in Beat fm before the advent of twitter which made him a pseudo celebrity. He was on the midnight show and back then i paid him good money. I cannot specifically remember the amount, but i am sure it was good money because YES i used to throw money around, ask about me. I would always have to stay awake at midnight to listen in to his show,he would not play my music. I would call, he picks when he likes then i will beg him to play my music, at least i paid for it. Sometimes he played, but at a time when we both know most human beings are sleeping, i wonder who he was playing for. This was a time Beat Fm was the Alpha and Omega of radio. Another person you do not need in your corner is Olisa of Beat fm, he most likely will charge you in dollars. In short as an artiste manager, throw Beat Fm and all the OAPs away, you do not need them. Forget what you been told. They never played lil Kesh’s shoki and Oritshefemi’s Double wahala until they became monster hits.

When you looking to plug a newbies song on radio, here are the places you should go. Your first point of call now is Soundcity radio. Make Ilo and Awazi your friend, they NEVER request money, trust me Awazi made me a refund, she never collects money to play a song. You need a radio station that can give you at least 3 times daily, if you don’t that get it is a waste of money. Go to City Fm, back in the days when Shosleek used to be there, that was a real G. When they promise to play your song, they play well. Walk into Faji fm, Eko fm, Traffic radio they have numbers but they are underrated. These are radio stations that can give you proper airplay for people to notice. Also in all you do, make sure your song gets to Brilla Fm. They will also charge you but they will do a good job. Brilla fm has a dedicated audience, dont joke with it.

In the beginning, artistes are usually under control, they feign humility don’t be carried away. Read between he lines, i saw the signs but i ignored. I remember one day during the heat of promotion, i drove Kesh, Viktoh and Dj Enimoney to Star Fm. Know what they did, they beat the gate man. I mean proper beating. I had to do a lot of damage control for the news not to get out. I am sure till today they must have thought its because they are celebrities. Tueh!

The signs are always there, always look for them. Even where they are not obvious, find them.

Always have a plan B. By plan B, i mean always have something else that brings you money.

A lot of people till date think music just grow, no it doesn’t Artiste managers place the song strategically to make it seem like it is everywhere. I remember when i will go all the way from Sango to Ikorodu to push Shoki without the knowledge of the entire YBNL crew, i wanted to make my own artiste. I wanted to put my name in the sand of time. I could do anything for Kesh at the time. Mobola and Desmond2dG of Splash Fm can bear me witness about how i will come to Ibadan to promote the song. Who knew that, Me. What was i trying to achieve? I was trying to make star.

I remember when Olamide dropped YBNL album, that was my first major project. God bless Baddo, he loved me so much. I got some Cds from him, i signed them myself in his name drove down to Ibadan and was handing it out to all radio stations, telling them Ola sent me, where as, i sent myself. You wonder why YBNL have so much fan base in Ibadan and Ikorodu, I did that. I laid the foundation.

Another thing is that you need to be impulsive, take decisions and live with the consequences. Your head tell you go to Club Royale now, just go damn the consequences if you know the dj or not, walk up to him. he is just another human being. Always think outside the box. In thinking outside the box, take your promo out of Lagos. People in lagos are too busy to notice a growing song. Most of the songs you eventually hear in lagos have been doing well in other places a good example is Wetin we gain by Victor Ad, lagos people got it last and made it theirs, always look to achieve that. Take your song to Ibadan, the money you will spend to promote on 2 radio stations in Lagos will get the entire Ibadan playing your song. Walk into Ray Power Ibadan, ask after Kolade Dominate, tell him Wale Applause sent you or go to Splash FM. ask after Edwin Paul, the whole of Ibadan is covered.

While you read this, say a big thank you to Notjustok.com, they pioneered music blogging. There was a time to get your song on that site, Ovie would say submit and pray, if men were God. Notjustok is a good site to have your song, but trust me your audience is not there. God bless the days when Dellyma was with Naijaloaded,com, he always knew how to strategically place your song on the site, he knew the peak periods. Invest in Naijaloaded and Tooxclusive, this is where Street djs download music and best believe if your song is good, most of them will play. HOTT category on Tooxclusive, Song of the week on Naijaloaded, quite expensive but do your best to be there.

Do not be fooled, we all doctor numbers, Youtube, Soundcloud. The way we do it is the difference. While some buy virtual views, some of us buy real view which wouldn’t amount to fans, but we need the numbers, viewers will not watch a video with 18 views. What we do is advertise the link, it gets published on Asian sites, you know the population in Asia,YES that’s what we all do, forget about the congratulatory artworks about millions of views. Yes they are real views but they do not amount to your fan base, indeed you need the numbers. Think i am lyinh check www.pushpowerpromo.com. That is where most of your music distributors go, there are others though but this is very effective, cheap, real views and accept Nigerian cards.

Let me give you another story about why at a point in my life i used to wear only knickers, socks and slippers.

Lil Kesh’s first ever show was Cotonou, i am sure he must have thought his song got that big. Shior. I remember my friend Tayo in Cotonou at the time who i spoke to about pushing Lil kesh hard in Cotonou. We forced the students to listen to only him hereby creating a demand. Yes there was a demand but there was no finance. I asked them how much they had, they 50k. I told them to push harder and after many days all they had was 80k. I knew 80k was no going to fly with Olamide as we had a 40;40;20 sharing formula at the time. I got 20 while they got 40 a piece, fantastic sharing formula, i of those reasons i will forever respect Olamide. Told the boys to send their 80k, i personally added my 20k since i knew it was coming back to me. Want to know why i did this? I needed to boost Lil Kesh’s career. What is an artiste without a performance. I needed to also make myself look good too. I called the team to say we had a show, a whooping 100k. I got back my 20k, we had a show, went to Cotonou and back. He became a star.

Always make your artiste look good.

Now about why i used to wear only Knickers. I was managing a budding artiste at the time but my account balance was red. I could not finance the life of an ideal artiste manager, there had to be another option. I had rent to pay, my siblings, everyday life, i knew i could not..

Continue: [url]Akukom.com/true-life-story-of-an-artiste-manager-lessons-for-all-aspiring-talent-managers/[/url]

Author: [url]Akukom.com/author/wale-applause/[/url]

Wow.... If all this are true then I hope one day wale applause will be my manager

It's very very True.
He shares a lot of his stories on our website.

He has left Nigeria for the UK though

sligo:
Wow.... If all this are true then I hope one day wale applause will be my manager