Banky W, Funke Akindele, Others Speak At NEC 4

So many Nigerian celebrities including Banky W, Funke Akindele and Tiwa Savage, gathered in Lagos at the recently held Nigerian Entertainment Conference 2016 to share some of their wealth of experience.

In his speech, Banky W said that the structure of the music business in Nigeria needs a lot of fixing while sharing his thoughts on ‘Content Marketing: The Power of Music, Comedy& More.’

The singer said, “I think that the structure of the music business in general needs a lot of fixing in Nigeria. We all need to come together and fix the structure. Everybody in the industry values change.

“Yes the artiste records but the producers should also get money on the back-end. They should be getting royalties for every of their music that is played. I always like to use 9ice’s Gongo Aso album as example. In my opinion, it’s one of the best albums that have ever come out of Nigeria in our history. I think the producer that worked on it, ID Cabasa, should be getting royalty from the album. His children’s children should be paid from every song he has produced.”

Akindele deliberated on ‘Economy of Talent: Using the Entertainment Industry to Rebuild Nigeria,’ and urged Nigerian celebrities to work harder.

“I believe structure matters a lot. How many celebrities have lawyers, good managers, and offices? Do we have websites? How big are we online? How are we imparting on people’s lives? What can they see us giving back to the society? In all, I just want us to work harder and together as a team. We all have talent and we should come together and also help the up and coming ones. Do not wait for the government. When you work hard and you are good at what you do, people will look for you,” she said.

While speaking on difficulties many Nigerian artistes go through in order to promote their content, the Eminado singer and Mavin first lady, Tiwa Savage, said, “I was in the UK recently. They have people called, music pluggers. These people are professionals who help artistes plug their songs on radio and also ensure that the songs get enough airplay. But here in Nigeria, we artistes have to take our CDs to radio stations ourselves. We tend to build relationships with OAPs and DJs. We always ensure that we send messages to them on their birthdays because many of us believe that if we don’t do that, they might not play our songs.”

Other panelists that spoke at the event include, Kemi Adetiba, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Bovi, Falz, Timi Dakolo and TY Bello.