First of all I will say you had put up a great article lawyer but you still have little or no clue of how the music industry in nigeria works. You only said from your perspective what you know about labels.

Now lets go to the game proper, no record label will sign an artist who hasn't created a little niche for him/herself, a label will only sign an artist who has build a brand and all they need is a push to fame. Let me break this down, Victor ad for example was very famous in warri before wetin we gain song without a record label. He had other songs and then after motivation with erigga he came with wetin we gain and then etiosa signed him to etins records, Victor ad was not in his house sleeping before he was signed. No label will sign you If you haven't conquered your zone be it school or street no matrer how good you are.

Concerning Cynthia Morgan and the jude saga , Morgan was above the level of upcoming artist when she signed for Jude, she has a song with jhybo and a few songs on TV. So you won't say jude single handedly made her, he saw potentials and what made him invest because he knows she has what it takes to fetch the money back. Now she signed for Jude, many people think signing for a label Is doing the label good when its actually a mutual benefit. As a musician you cant just walk to jude to Sign you, you have to prove yourself first and be noticed. They want to make money and you also want to cash out on your talent.

When a contract is signed every term is stated, we know how expensive it is to push an artist for sure. Now its the responsibility of the label to make the artist comfortable and look out for their welfare, its a must you give them a place to stay and may be a car. You mentioned that all the money spent on the artist must be made before the artist gets 10 kobo, I swear I've never heard of this before what I know of is what ever is coming in must be shared 60 for the label and 40 for the artist. Only a fool will sign a contract to a label that they will start giving him pay when they make all they spent.


You talked about the label promotion the artist ,thats right at first a good artist need promo on all those platforms and then once they are blown, tooxclusive and others don't need money to promote them anymore. Even radio stations will call them and pay them for interviews. TV stations will play their songs for free. Victor ad ft davido- tire you - man didnt spent a dine in promo cos he has a name already. You also talked about youtube and streaming. Do you know the artist gets paid by youtube when his video gets streamed and also on other sites like Spotify etc.

What I am trying to say is a label has seen the potentials of an artist and will tie them with a contract so they get stucked there and they will be milking them dry.

Do you think jude will direct 10 videos if Cynthia Morgan wasn't cashing out. She won an headies award and a few ones. Why did you think olamide did not promote pizzco and davolee, thats cos they have no market value. Why is davido not promoting dremo d way he's promotion mayor.

What I'm saying Is that to an extent a label is responsible for the failure of an artise when they think the artise should be used before they get paid instead of knowing its a business both must benefit from. Music has money.

Lalastica