The stakeholders disclosed this at the African Music Business Summit themed ‘Music Business in Africa: Connecting Borderless Talents.’
The summit which is one of the events lined up for the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) had the stakeholders discussing African Music and Digital Influence.
Mr Yoel Kenan, CEO AFRICORI, said digital distribution connects independent artistes directly with the audience and the world at large.
“Digital platform enables artistes to reach new targets around the world. If more artistes can key into this, I see a lot of opportunity happening in Nigeria music industry.
“Today, you can be independent as an artist. A number of artists do not need a record label because music distribution is now easier and you can have your songs available all over the world through digital platforms,” he said.
Mr Eric Bellamy, Associate Director, YUMA Productions, said a lot of artistes could utilise the digital platform to the extent that one or two good songs can earn them a tour.
“With a digital distribution of music, the rules have now changed. The audience is on all social media platforms, just log in and connect with them.
“It is also important for artistes to choose where they intend to focus their strategy, Burna Boy chose UK and it worked for him,” he said.
The founder, Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN), Sarah Boulos, said the digital way is the only way a musician’s message can go further.
She added that the digital platform is also having a negative effect on the live act as consumers now easily enjoy music in their comfort zones without stepping out.
Boulos said the digital platform had given an opportunity to women in the music industry to sell their music and urged popular artistes to also support young talents.
Mr Seidu Iddrisu, a music publisher, however, said that artistes needed to be enlightened on royalty payment, which is a continental problem in music distribution.
“Artistes should come out with a split immediately a song is made. This split will be among all those that contributed to the production of the song.
“This will put an end to the dispute over royalty payments. A lot of artists have their royalty payments hanging somewhere because they had no understanding of this which is sad,” he said.
Mr Sipho Diamini, Managing Director Universal Music, who was the moderator further encouraged both up and coming and A list artistes to utilise digital platforms effectively.
He emphasised the importance of consistency and advised them to study successful artistes with the intention of learning from their strategy.
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