₦airaland Forum

There are a few factors that can adversely impact the longevity and sustainability of an artiste’s career like the strength of their brand, and many an artiste’s career has ended prematurely on account of trifling with building their brand. Recently, every artiste and their mother seem to think that they are a brand, and they are correct. How strong or remarkable their brand is from other artistes is another matter.

Like I mentioned in an old article, the rapid advancements in technology that we have recorded in the last two decades has made it easier to record music and distribute said music, and this has been a blessing and a curse for artistes. On the one hand it has opened access to the industry up to millions of creatives who would otherwise find it difficult to enter. But on the flip side the lower cost barrier has created a permanent glut in the music space such that it is increasingly difficult to command the attention of a critical mass of music fans at any given time. Hence, the need for real differentiation in an artiste’s offering or it becomes very difficult for them to make any meaningful progress in the industry or to sustain what little progress is made. Building a solid brand is now imperative for a long, rewarding music career.

Ask anyone the question, “what is your brand” and most will struggle to articulate clearly what their brand is, not because they don’t know their brand, but because it can be difficult to put into words. Sometimes it is easier to articulate or understand a brand more from the perspective of what it is not as opposed to what it is. Being a brand is as much about saying “No” to some things as it is about saying “Yes”. It has been my experience in this industry that for many if not most artistes, there is no deal that they can say “No” to. When our artistes talk about “securing the bag” they often mean “securing any bag”. But you cannot be all things to all men if you want to build a solid brand, you have to say no to certain things and yes to others. In the music business, there are two broad areas where you can define your brand.

First is the music side, artistes can set themselves apart through their unique sound, writing style, delivery, fashion, performances and every element that goes into making them the artistes they are. So, artistes ought to carefully think about each of the above-mentioned facets of their professional persona with a view to crafting a unique framework within which all their works, within a given period, would be situated. This kind of framework will give much needed direction to artistes as they produce their works, and nothing aids creativity like a clear sense of direction. This approach also helps build an engaged and committed fan base as they know, within reasonable limits, what to expect from their stars at any given time. An artiste’s brand will also help decipher and dictate which trends to jump on and which to say “No” to. For instance, the way every other artiste made it their life goal to feature Duncan mighty after the fact of his hit with Wizkid was just embarrassing and indicative of the follow-follow culture in the industry that inhibits any serious brand building efforts. I once opined on twitter that If in your next hit alone you have hope, you are of all men most miserable. A well-developed music brand means that you are less vulnerable to your next single as your fans have bought into something much bigger than just the music. This is why I believe that if Lagbaja announced a gig billed for Eko Hotel, he’d no doubt sell out the venue, despite not being very active on the music scene in years. Solid music brands don’t die.

Of course, the other area where an artiste can build their brand is the business side of things, particularly how they relate with other corporate brands. Business relationships with corporate brands offer an important opportunity for artistes to further chisel out and propagate their brand identities and values. But this opportunity is often not effectively utilized as most of our artistes are usually primed to do business with any brand as long as the money is right, whether or not there is modicum of fit between both brands. One of the reasons for this desperation is that artistes and their teams have been sold the zero-sum philosophy where they must jostle for any and every opportunity or they will have nothing. Yet, careers are still going extinct so fast. Listen, the commoditization of your art, through your business relationships will not augur well. It will not. I remember being critical of the Glo endorsement jamboree in some of my past writings from a few years ago and how it commoditizes the artistes, but everybody wanted that extra million or two. I assure you that none of those artistes had a say in how they were going to be portrayed nor did they give a damn. Yet, to paraphrase Henry David Thoreau said, “the path of least resistance makes crooked rivers and crooked men. The “free money” simply made artistes and their teams lazier, unable and unwilling to build anything. They sat back and waited for the corporates to make the first move and they took whatever they were offered, naively believing that every deal was a good deal, and nothing could be further from the truth.

Dear artiste, to secure your bag tomorrow, you must build your brand today – no brand, no bag. Believe in yourself, your unique talent, and your individual journey. Patiently and deliberately build a solid music brand and the world will reward you for a long time. I have had to watch, with sadness, as many gifted artistes, otherwise on track to have a great career, have been swayed by the trending sound, producer, or artiste of the moment to their doom. As Philip Kotler says, “If you are not a brand you are a commodity” and commodities are easily replaced. Build your music brand and be irreplaceable.

#BOM

Obinna Agwu is a compulsive lover of music, Talent Manager, Music Business Executive, Adviser to Labels and Talents and the author of The Mob’s Take and BOM Series.

@d_angrymob

“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” - Anonymous

If there is one thing every human being knows or gets to find out soon enough, it’s the truth in the statement, “nobody is perfect.” Although no boss will take that from you as an excuse for failing in your duties, it doesn’t make the statement less true. Mistakes are us; the best of us learn from them and do better, others don’t and repeat them. But even those who learn from the mistakes of yesterday are bound to make new ones today, and on and on it goes. Yet, nothing of importance was ever made without mistakes and crisis are often a precursor to major successes.

But when you are a celebrity, your mistakes tend to be more public than it would be for us normal folk, and a small matter can quickly snowball into a major crisis. This was the case earlier in the week when news broke of the rising star, Peruzzi’s assault on Pamilerin for basically saying that Teni was the more talented artiste of the two in a tweet. The matter became a trending topic on social media and soon became a full-on crisis, which was subsequently defused when Peruzzi issued an unreserved apology which was accepted by Pamilerin. A good judgement call on Peruzzi’s part.

Crises, though problematic, always carry a seed of opportunity in them, but often celebrities freak out when in crisis and fail to take advantage of the inherent opportunity they present. For instance, in March 2018, at a free show sponsored by the Enugu state government for Flavour, it was alleged that countless women were raped and/or molested at the show venue. Flavour's response was interesting, to put it mildly. He simply went mute, hoping that everything will blow over. Eventually, everything seemed to blow over, but was it forgotten? No. In another related event, some months prior to the Flavour show, on the 19Th of November 2017, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium in Awka, it was also alleged that many female fans were sexually harassed and raped at PhynoFest. What was Phyno's response? Anger, disbelief, denial and little empathy as seen in this tweet: “The event wouldn’t hold if we can’t guarantee d safety of d fans that came tru. And this is coming up a month after d event.. how come?” Can you believe that?

Bear in mind that the people who were alleged to have been molested or raped at the two events highlighted were fans of Flavour and Phyno who traveled from their homes to see their beloved superstars, only to be sexually assaulted and then treated so shabbily by the very stars they so adored. In a way, flavour’s silence was, at least, a tacit endorsement of the rape culture which remains a massive stain on our society. For musicians who sing about women a lot, Flavour and Phyno missed a great opportunity to stand for the women who love their music, and women in general, when it mattered. They could have made videos or released statements tendering their unreserved apology and shown empathy to the victims; they could have taken responsibility for ensuring that at least some of the perpetrators were brought to book and made efforts to visit one or two of the victims. But they didn’t.

Contrast their responses with Ariana Grande's response to the suicide bomb attack at her May 2017 Manchester concert; her first tweet: “Broken. From the bottom of my heart I am so so sorry. I have no words,” then she went back with a bunch of her Superstar friends for a benefit concert that raised $13 million for the victims; she also visited some of the injured in the hospital and the mother of one of the deceased. And she has consistently put out a word to remember the victims on May 22nd of every year since the incident. How about that? Big difference!

As we established earlier, crises are inevitable, but I think these five points will help artistes respond better, even without any PR support.
1. Respond quickly, don’t play dead
2. Take responsibility, apologize
3. Tell the truth, don’t prevaricate
4. Don’t be defensive, Look for the seed of opportunity in the storm
5. Improve the quality of your team – (most important)

In the two cases highlighted above, both artistes missed an opportunity to become strong advocates for the banishment of rape culture from our society. Rape culture might affect women directly, but the whole society bears the brunt of the malaise. The above events would have been an opportunity for the artistes involved to learn more about rape culture in our society and lend their voices and star power to educating the youth and hopefully cause a change in behaviour. This, by the way, would have made them bigger stars than they are today. But PR said no.

So, although Peruzzi made a huge mistake by hitting Pamilerin in the first place, the fact that he apologized makes a world of difference. And unlike Flavour and Phyno, wherever this matter is mentioned in the future (and it will come up), it will always be said that Peruzzi apologized (forget about Davido's problematic apology for a minute). Could the apology have come sooner and be better worded? Certainly. But apologies are better late than never.
Well done, Peruzzi.


#BOM
Obinna Agwu is a compulsive lover of music, Talent Manager, Music Business Executive, Adviser to Labels and Talents and the author of The Mob’s Take and BOM Series.
@d_angrymob