This is not an emerging trend in Nigeria.
In fact, it is something that happens
quite a bit especially in our
entertainment sector.
For example. You might be singing in
the shower “I’m on top of the world by
D’banj” and you tell yourself ‘ You know
what? I can sing better than this guy’,
you pick your pen and you’re inspired
to write a song. You believe it will a hit
and and then to the studio, record it
and master the single and the fact that
it is on replay on your phone means
others will be as obsessive about it and
accept it. Right?
Now you are a MUSICIAN. You hits the
streets and realize you want airplay so
you try to sell your song to the radio
stations. Brother you don turn
MARKETER. You beg the bloggers to put
it online for free and tweet about your
new jam everyday. You’re now a
SOCIAL MEDIA PUBLICIST of life. You
pick your own calls and negotiate your
price for shows you’re called for. You
are your own MANAGER. Now you
know nothing about videos or you
would have shot it yourself just to cut
costs. You come up with a full album,
you know a few things about graphics,
so you are the GRAPHIC DESIGNER .
They use your camera so you get the
PHOTOGRAPHER’s credit. The album is
about to be launched and you become
RECORD LABEL OWNER of a label that
only you are signed to or will ever be
signed to.
The same can be said of most
Nollywood movies. You find movies
that are WRITTEN,EDITED,PRODUCED
and DIRECTED by one person…..Haba
now! Only you? !! *Sigh* Why are most
Nigerians all to themselves?
My findings are:-
- Some people don’t want to spend one
kobo even though they have the
financial capabilities and don’t want to
pay others for expertise.
- A lot of people struggle to keep their
dreams alive. When you find people
who can assist in doing some of these
thing, they charge extravagant fees.
- Most companies don’t take your
proposal seriously because you don’t
have a name or reputation.
The Disadvantages here are:-
Because you are not quite versed in a
lot of things, you are willing to take
shortcuts helping corruption thrive in
the society.
You don’t employ a PR expert so you
don’t know what to say or present to
the press. Everything you say is being
used against you.
Your image quality is bad because you
didn’t even know the composition rules
in photography or cinematography.
That is why we see poorly edited
movies and bad scripts in Nollywood.
What can be done to curb this
mentality?
Let each person take a field and
become an expert in it. There is a role
for everyone and if you want to be a
musician take vocals lessons, if you are
going into editing, take it and be the
best that can be found.
Help one another.
That’s all. Peace.
By Damilola Okejide (@Ms_Dharmilorlla)