Booking an artist in Nigeria is not as straight forward as one might think. There are a couple ways to achieve this. But first there are a couple of things you will need to confirm.

1. Is if the artist/act/performer will be available on the day you want him/her for your event or show. This is pretty straight-forward but also can be tremendously annoying. Most of the acts you might want will be booked on the date you want them, especially during festive periods. Having to contact virtually every act only to find out they aren't available can be truly heartbreaking.

2. You will need to inform the artist of the venue of the location which you want him or her perform. Again, this is pretty straight.

3. Thirdly, artists need to know what kind of function they will be performing at i.e wedding, birthday, anniversary, book launch etc. Some artists are very particular about the events they perform at.

4. This is probably the most important part, THE PRICE! As you well know, different artists charge different prices. For A-listers like Davido, Wizkid, Mavin, Psquare etc be well prepared to pay anywhere between 5-10million for their performance. This most likely be exclusive of their travel, feeding and accomodation costs, which you will cater for for any performance outside their state of residence.

5. After an agreement has been reached, bear in mind that some agreements will require signed contracts, some artists will want require that you pay them to confirm the date you want. Some artists will ask for a deposit i.e. 50% before and 50% after performance. In the case of the option, in the case of the first agreement it leaves the client exposed. Some artist for one reason or the other might fail to turn up, illness or due to some unforeseen circumstances. Also the artist might appear but fail to perform satisfactorily, in which asking for your money back might prove difficult. Fortunately, these cases are increasingly rare these days.

HOW TO CONTACT AN ARTISTE
First things first, you will never get the chance to speak to the artists until payment has been made. The people you do speak to are the buffers, the artists management team. Sorry to burst your bubble but that's how it works.

A better way of contacting or booking an artist is through talent agents. They do all the work for you so you don't have to. Just give them the information they need and thats it. Sites like www.booktalent.com.ng are excellent at this, they'll confirm the artist/acts for you within 24hrs and are very prefessional. They also offer 'fee protection' i.e. They hold your money for you till the artists perform their duties as agreed, only then are the artists paid.

I hope this has been helpful, goodluck!