“Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8.34am. The baby weighs 8lbs 3oz. The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth,” the official statement from Kensington Palace read. “The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales & The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry & members of both families have been informed. Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.” the royal family announced.
“So “aero contractors” decided to refund us due to scarcity of aviation fuel. i had an important appearance to meet up wit last night in benin so i decided to hire a car to take me to benin since i didn’t have any oda option. just as we were approaching ore in ondo state, one of the back tires bursted. the driver lost control…….. the picture you are seeing right now explains d rest of d story. now the interesting part…… i came out of this vehicle without a scratch. my tab that i was holdin was intact. the dark sunshades dat i wearing was also without a scratch. not one single injury was recorded in this accident. even the driver was not injured at all. i was still able to meet up wit d event in benin and everything went on successfully. my people, help me thank god for this wonderful miracle. the God i serve neither slumbers nor sleeps. he will give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. he who did not make u cannot break u. thy shall walk through the fire and thy shall not b burnt. God 1st always” he wrote.
“The money government said it was paying to marketers has not yet hit our accounts. So, there is little we can do about the situation,” Mr, Adewole said.
“The money the Minister of Finance promised to pay us last February did not get into our hands till about four or five weeks later.
“If all members are not getting the money today, it means we have to wait till Monday. But, the truth is that nobody is going to call off the strike till the money is paid,” he added.
Ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome to the new game in town. For better or for worse, our music “industry” is embracing a new form of art. The focus has shifted almost entirely from making music to something else. Now the transition is finally complete and the sync word here is LIE. In Nigeria today, every artist needs a “lying” platform – or three, to reach their target audience.
Years back, radio used to be the dominant “platform” for breaking new artists, you may say it is still important, but the radio is certainly no longer the only game in town. It is becoming simply too limited, too expensive and too difficult to control to be the sole platform. A better and surer way to expose the artist to the public has been discovered. Now the artist with the biggest LIE has the bigger and better head start.
The Nigerian music “industry” has now brought a vast array of gifted liars. We have seen managers lying blatantly about the activities of their artistes just to be noticed. So far, it is working for them here in Nigeria. Our gullibility has made it too easy to become an artist here in Nigeria. What was your reactions when Burna Boy tweeted about his new songwriting deal with Universal Music Group? Did you notice how the blogs went gaga congratulating him?
If truly Burna Boy got a deal, why didn’t Universal Music Group issue a statement to that effect? Well, strange stuff has happened.
Isn’t the Nigerian music “industry” at risk with this lying game taken to this new level? Is it no longer worth noting that the actual quality of the artist’s songs should be a predominating factor in a decision to recruit him as a songwriter?Why are we acting as if we don’t know that Burna’s songs won’t find many readily available patronisers outside the shores of Nigeria? If they do, they can only be appreciated by only a few Nigerians. Even in cases where there is a proven audience for a particular artiste’s work, it is not enough to make it a big deal to corner a deal. As a musician reading this article, would you approach Burna Boy to write you a song? Judging by what you’ve heard from him so far! If you can’t, why would a foreign company with a long list of songwriters employ him as a songwriter?
One reason why there are no record labels in Nigeria is that a lot of our music stakeholders are sentimental in their approach to the business. The guys at Universal are not jokers. They are strictly in it for the money. They don’t attach sentiments to their dealings. They know that songwriting is not actually a business. There’s no financial element attached to songwriting in itself. It is the job of the music publisher to turn the song into something that can generate income. Can Burna’s song guarantee the kind of financial returns we are talking about here? How many CDs has he sold in Nigeria as an artist?
I am not talking of the free downloads of singles on blogs, but the copies of actual albums he has sold. How manypeople have his album in their homes?The pink and brown contract sneaked up on us on instagram could have been printed at Oluwole. Until Universal Music Group authenticates these claims, everything Burna has said could not be true. It is a shame that Nigerian journalists will never see it necessary to investigate any issue before plastering it all over their platforms. I was on set on Nigezie, shooting the Etcetera Live TV show when the producer asked if I heard about Burna Boy’s new deal with Universal Records. Right there and then, I went online and checked the authenticity of the story.
The first thing I checked was if Universal Music Group issued any statement to that effect. I wasn’t surprised that the story could only be found only in the world. You employ a songwriter who is like a talent magnet; a record maker. Someone who brings forth the talent in the singer. Someone whose role is to write songs that define the artistes and give them a reason for existence and you keep that under the carpet? It doesn’t make any sense. The truth is, there’s no song of Burna that suggests he is anywhere close to being the kind of songwriter we are talking about here. This guy sounds like he doesn’t want anyone to pick out his lines.
Finally, it is very important for all those with music interest to note that in this new LIE eco-system of ours, there are three things a musician needs, and his success or failure can be predicted almost entirely on the basis of how many of these three things are in place. If you can provide a clean sweep of three out of three, like Burna Boy, you’ll likely be signing a record deal with Universal Music Group even without being able to hold your notes vocally.
If you’ve got two out of three, you will probably get an offer, like some other artistes have claimed at different times. Though it might not be exactly the deal you were hoping for. Bring only one out of three and the best you can hope for is a polite invitation to come back sometime in the distant future. So here are the three things every Nigerian will pay for – the essential components to a successful “Music Career” – 1.LIE, 2.LIE and 3.LIE!
“We have scheduled to meet with the Coordinating Minister of the Economy on Monday, but if the meeting fails to address the issue we have tabled, then we will continue with the action”
