Despite the daily increase in number and affordability to work with music persons in the African music industry, it’s no surprise that upcoming artistes who have surfaced through music media have not been satisfactory to listeners and themselves. It’s either they have poor quality products or couldn’t find their way around the industry. Majority of these artistes are tired of doing free shows but inspired by money and solely dependent on the approach by record deals and labels. These have been great threats to the determination to strive and most upcoming artistes have lost their way up due to same or similar reasons. Therefore, I took a bit of my own advice and oozed around the effects of these circumstances on upcoming artistes, and how to amend them. Hence, the creation of this list of needs every upcoming artiste must seek to get masters in every piece of work he/she does. This list was made after consulting Mr. Thomas Bykefreeborn Moore, an intellectual property manager and the Ceo of Flame Family Group Lagos, in Nigeria. At this junction, I have a reluctant glimpse of upcoming artistes reading anxiously with arms-crossed while simultaneously drawing points together in my scattered room. 1 – You Need to be Talented Talent allows you to be original and creative This enables you to produce good music always. Without talent, evergreen songs like ‘African Queen’ can’t be guaranteed. 2 – You Need to Behave Talent is never enough for any artiste. However, loyalty, respect, humility, patience etc; are the least attitudes every upcoming artiste must portray to gain support in the African music world. 3 – You Need a Working Budget Most upcoming artiste dream of buying houses in Banana Island, Lekki, Johannesburg and Kampala when they hit stardom yet wait on record labels all their life to achieve these goals. You can’t buy an over-sized trouser without a belt. Thus, only a working budget will do for you. A working budget allows you to have quality productions, promote your songs and reduce your chances of being star-struck while rising as a superstar. It gradually makes the music business work for you. As they popularly say, slow and steady wins the race. A good manager or promoter can strategize a budget that can work for you. READ Open Letter to Cassper Nyovest. 4 – You Need to be Heard Every upcoming artiste has low audience not because they are not good but because they don’t have a stable promoter, promotion team or promotion platform. A good personal or stable promoter in your music crew handles your audience and increases your publicity range, time for work and productivity – termed ‘division of labour’ in Economics. This is essential as it relieves stress and over-time while pursuing your life career. 5 – You Need to be Updated and Consistent As an upcoming artiste, you need to be up-to- date with songs, music and entertainment news, events etc; especially with the ones that engage A-list artistes. However, a good manager can cover for this course totally. While getting notes on updates, make a working schedule for your calendar in relation. Also, being consistent while doing all mentioned above is necessary to at least maintain your stage in the fight and renew your validity in the music industry. 6 – You Need to Manage All Needs Above A Nigerian would exclaim, ‘Manage a Behaviour?!!!’. Yes, every lion has a tamer likewise every star has a manager. A music manager is the eye and hand of the artiste in the music business. He monitors your progress, updates, and music market while grooming you. A manager engages you in shows, tours and exhibitions too. Managers are more effective than artistes in the music world. Exceptionally, some talented artistes have managerial abilities. 7 – You Need God Ironically, this is what every upcoming artiste needs first. Talent is a gift from God and most successful artistes started with the gospel; the likes of Terry G, Cassper Nyovest, 2Face, Patoranking etc. Aside that, wisdom of which creativity is dependent on, is the fear of God. God which literally means ‘The Word of God’ gives strength, endurance, patience, inspiration just to mention but a few. Neglecting to acknowledge this need as superior is like having a new recruit in your field as the captain; you just shot your foot. In generally, with these 7 key points, an upcoming artiste can transform from a studio rag to a show stopper in Africa.
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