It’s the 20th year of the new 21st Century and the lives of Nigerian musicians have not remained the same. From the global attention that many Nigerian artistes now get to the possibility of their music gaining the attention of world figures like former US President Barack Obama through streaming, it would seem like the life has arrived for Nigerian artistes but is that really so? Eelive.ng’s DAMILARE FAMUYIWA reports on the benefits and limitations of streaming as well as ways musicians can make the best possible of their careers.
Music consumption has continuously evolved over the years. With the help of the internet, access to music has become easier. Audiences can now stream their favourite songs from any part of the world.
With the emergence of new technologies that gave impetus to streaming, the days of relying solely on radio frequencies; or going out to purchase tapes/compact discs are gone. The transition from physical storage media to digital formats has revolutionised the way music is consumed.
In recent years, streaming services have grown to become the primary consumption destination for consumers. Adeyera Olubunmi, a talent manager, harped on this shift while speaking to eelive.ng. “Gone are the days when we buy CDs and play the life out of it till the CD gets damaged,” he explained.
This shift to streaming platforms has created a situation whereby artistes now get more remuneration for their hard work. Esther Adekeye, a mediapreneur and founder of Estol Africa, put it succinctly when she said “music streaming is simply getting artistes’ songs on paid music platforms, where fans can either stream for free, or pay to download, which subsequently turns to be revenues for the artistes.”
Similarly, RAVE Media founder, Samuel Isong, noted that “with streaming, your fans can financially reward you. As an artiste that’s the only thing you are left with when you are not playing gigs and when you are not a lifestyle artiste in which you can influence trends, and also associate with brands and products”.
Before the Paradigm Shift
From piracy to non-payment of royalties by media stations and absence of compensation from Nollywood filmmakers, there was never a time when Nigerian artistes got paid what they truly deserve.
Hence, the coming of music consumption via the internet signalled the promise of a fresh beginning. But not before a familiar challenge – illegal sharing of music online – reared its head. Putting context to this, Jide Taiwo, the Chief Content Officer of Boomplay, explained: “Piracy is not limited to the Alaba models. Once you send out music and people download it for free, that’s also piracy.”
With this short-changing the artistes and record labels, there was always a quest to sell songs through innovative channels and,music streaming came to the rescue. FIrst as usual in the developed countries but ultimately, in Nigeria.
When Things Changed
So, how did music streaming gain dominance and foothold in the Nigerian music landscape?
Oye Akideinde, CEO of MusicTime and Simfy Africa, said he began to notice a change in the early 2000s. “The tide pretty much turned with the release of iTunes music store in 2003, which brought about legal purchases of music digitally,” he told the Guardian.
“But 2008 was the tipping point when Spotify came to the scene, and for the first time ever users were able to stream all the music they could listen to for ten dollars per month. Since then, other music streaming services have been launched even from the tech giants like Apple, Google and Amazon. Africa wasn’t left out with music services such as Simfy Africa, Spinlet, Music Plus; and Boomplay all springing up as well to see how to localise and tailor their service for the continent.
A music executive who didn’t want to be named shared an insight into what was obtainable before streaming became a game-changer. “Some years ago, artistes didn’t have other channels to market and sell their music aside from seeking; and luring marketers to buy masters of their CDs and tapes,” the exec said. “In Nigeria, artistes go as far as publishing their songs on mainstream blogs for free. By doing this, they strongly believe this is the only way to make their songs become a street anthem, attract calls for concerts/shows, and at the same time, get endorsement deals.”
Those days are now in the rear view of the Nigerian music industry. Courtesy of streaming platforms, artistes are now able to find wider reach; and engage better with audiences more than ever before.
Dawn of a New Era
An example of this is Burna Boy whose fifth studio album, Twice as Tall, had over 5 million streams in less than an hour after it dropped on streaming services, which include – Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, Tidal, Pandora, iTunes Store, and Deezer.
Similarly, Wizkid’s recently-released Made In Lagos attracted over 10 million streams on Spotify alone, setting a record as the third most-streamed Nigerian album in 2020.
Explaining what streaming means for artistes, Charlotte Bwana, manager, Business Development and Media Partnerships (Africa) of Audiomack, said, “people need to understand that your fans are not going to look for your music. You have to bring the music to them and that is what streaming does.
“Subsequently, artistes can use their statistics to build their fan base easily.”
Buttressing Bwana’s point, Taiwo noted that streaming has helped artistes reach a greater number of fans and provided them with the opportunity to again cross borders more than physical music sales would have done.
“You can record your song right now, put it on the streaming service and they hear it in Australia right away as opposed to when you had to print CDs, duplicate them and send them, incurring more cost. It(streaming) has reduced the cost of distributing music. It has given artistes more access to fans and provided them with the opportunity to do more.”
Are artistes making money from streaming?
Based on available data, quite a number of artistes are making money from the streaming of their songs. With the huge numbers they garner from their songs, they earn royalties as fans stream.
But are they actually making enough to survive on? Let’s dive into this.
According to music industry stakeholders, streaming platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer; and Amazon do not have a fixed ‘pay-per-stream’ rate.
Faith Nzekwu, Sales and Artiste Relations Personnel at Freeme Digital, said there are different factors that determine how artistes earn from streaming. Putting context to her assertion, Nzekwu explained that demographics, geographical entities, time, amongst others, affect how much money one stream is worth. “For instance, a legitimate stream has to be more than 30 seconds. The source of the stream and geographical areas are also considered. Platforms like YouTube pay more for streams from the US and Europe than streams from Africa.”
Speaking in the same vein, an industry player who doesn’t want to be named, told eelive.ng that one cannot be sure of how much is earned from a song’s streaming based on accrued figures of the song.
“It is unreasonable to calculate how much an artiste makes from a particular song because you can see the garnered streams. There are many determinant factors of royalties. I can assure you that artistes do not get the same royalties from streaming platforms. Talking about earnings from royalties, you have to consider a lot of things like the streaming platforms, locations of those streaming your song; and the time in which the streaming lasted amongst others.”
Artistes Can’t Survive from Streaming Alone?
Giving response to this question, Adeyera, who’s the founder of RedAce Management Company, said despite how lucrative music streaming has become for artistes in recent years, it’s not enough for their survival. “When we talk about surviving on streaming alone; I’d like us to view music beyond just releasing songs but also as a business in itself. There are quite a number of factors that contribute to the life, earnings, and survival of an artiste. It is important to know that streaming is just one of the ways an artiste can make earnings.
“There are also so many factors to be considered when it comes to releasing a song, and it starts from music making. As an artiste, God help you if you don’t write and produce your own songs. It means you have to pay the writer and pay the producers for instrumentals, mixing and mastering. It is then we can say you have a song. From there, you move to the promotion of your content, and in Nigeria, music promotion is no small money. Now quantifying all these efforts and resources expended on putting your song out there, personally; I feel streaming alone might not be sufficient to keep an artiste afloat in Nigeria.
“For instance, an artiste needs about 150 streams to earn $1 on Apple Music; 250 streams to earn $1 on Spotify. This means that an artiste needs to have roughly about 150,000 and 250,000 streams to earn $1,000 dollars on Apple Music and Spotify, respectively. And if the artiste is signed to a record label, the money will be split between the record label; the management and the artiste.”
Corroborating this point of view, Adekeye said: “No artiste can survive solely from music streaming income because it takes time to accumulate and the money comes from large numbers. This means you as an artiste must have spent a lot to get loads of streams before you start making the residual income which grows as long as your song grows.”
Meanwhile, giving Adeyera’s postulations on how much artistes can earn from streaming; Burna Boy would have earned more than $133,000 on Apple, and no less than $160,000 on Spotify with his 20 million and 40 million respective streams.
In a similar vein, Wizkid, at the rate of 150 streams to earn a dollar would have earned no less than $667,000 for his Made In Lagos’ 100 million streams across different platforms. This includes Apple Music and Spotify. This is also applicable to Davido who has accrued over 100 million streams across different platforms for his A Better Time album.
Challenges and solutions
Admittedly, the culture of streaming is growing but it has not yet grown into its full potential; with some challenges hindering the growth. Some of these challenges include illegale downloads, high cost of browsing data, and piracy.
Proffering solutions, singer Evablazin canvassed for the sensitisation of the public. “It is important for Nigerians to understand that music is a product. It should be bought and in this case streamed because the artistes have licensed some stores, like Apple Music and Spotify; to sell their products. Most importantly it is good for the ecosystem,” he stated.
Like Evablazin, Nzekwu sought a ban on illegal downloading of songs, cheaper and quality internet services; and value added services to attract music consumers to stream.
Way forward for artistes
While music streaming alone may not be able to sustain artistes, music executives who spoke to eelive.ng opined that artistes should consider building marketable brands to stay afloat. They should also consider other means of earning.
Adekeye said branding is very important. She added that an artiste’s revenue depends on his or her relevance in the music landscape. “The truth is you can’t underestimate the importance of building a sellable brand. The reality is, it’s not even a matter of talent. People won’t likely take you seriously, or even want to listen to your music if your branding is not premium. Having a strong and consistent brand is an effective way to show people who you are in a way that will make them actually want to listen to your art. Artistes need to understand that their music will not always be the first to introduce them.”
Like Adekeye, Isong advised artistes to invest in content marketing to garner reasonable streams. “80% of Nigerian artistes are yet to go into content marketing. Not many artistes are like Mr Eazi who is able to spend money to promote content digitally. He invests in his content and at the end, he gets financially rewarded.”
For the RedAce boss, diversification is a good strategy for smart artistes who really want to stay afloat. “Over the years as a talent manager, this is one advice I give to any artiste that has had the privilege of working with me. I advise them never to rely on music alone as their source of income. I advise artistes to invest in other areas which their brand as an artiste can also promote.”
On his part, Boomplay’s Chief Content Officer said “artistes have to be aware that the techniques and mechanics are different. People used to buy songs on CDs, now people stream music. They are still consuming the music one way. So, it is important that they do the same things they would have done if they were selling the music on CDs.
That means they have to promote, find a way to deploy technology; in such a way that it will help them take advantage of music streaming.”
