What Makes A Musician Successful In Nigeria.

What Makes A Musician Successful In Nigeria.

September 6, 2023

What makes a musician successful in Nigeria? is one question asked by too many upcoming artists and I am going to provide an answer to that question in this article.

But before we look into that; let us first of all get to see who is really a successful musician.

To me, a successful musician is an artist who has multiple hit songs that bring him lots of money from record sales, paid shows, streaming revenues, etc, and helps him to amass so much wealth and fame.

Now let’s move on to see what really makes a musician successful.

What makes a musician successful?

The three things that make a musician successful in Nigeria are are talent, money, and technological know-how of the music business.

  1. Musical talent.
  2. Money
  3. Tech-know-how.

Now let’s get to see an explanation of the above point.

1. Musical Talent.

If you want to become a successful artist in the Nigerian music industry you must ensure that you have the musical talent.

Your musical talent will however depend on the genre of music you choose.

Because there is no way you are going to be talented in all the music genres.

And even if you are talented in multiple genres, my best advice is for you to stick to a particular genre.

Why you should stick to a particular genre.

So many artists think that mixing multiple genres of music will help them to have fans across different genres.

But am here to dismiss such a claim because there are so many fans you are going to lose simply because you are singing in a genre they don’t like.

For instance, here in Nigeria, rap music does not have that much appeal; because Nigerians tend to fall in love more with AfroBeats/AfroPop.

And for that reason, if you want to rap and sing, I mean AfroBeats at the same time, you are going to lose fans who do not like rap.

What am trying to say here is that there are so many fans who will not listen to, even your AfroBeats song; simply because you rap.

Now let’s move from here to see how you should confirm whether you have any musical talent.

How to confirm whether you have musical talent.

The Holy Book says that there is nothing as deceitful as the human heart.

And for that reason, never allow your heart to convince you that you have musical talent.

Instead, use the following two ways to confirm whether you have musical talent.

  1. Record a demo song and play it to your family members and friends, asking for their honest opinion on how you sing or rap. You can then weigh their comments to come out with an honest result.
  2. Reach out to music industry experts and promoters. You can send them your demo song or freestyle videos and ask their honest opinion on whether you really have musical talent. This way, you will be able to confirm if you have musical talent or not.

2. Money.

Everything on earth revolves around money, and the music industry is no exception.

Therefore, money is one of the things that will make you become successful in the Nigerian music industry.

Most especially, your music recording and promotion will require you to spend so much money.

I always love to preach this musical sermon with the topic; music is business.

And to succeed in any business in this world, you must have the capital to invest.

But it’s sad that lots of upcoming artists here in Nigeria think there is a way they are going to become successful in the music industry without having to spend money.

And if you are one of such, I want you to dismiss such belief and rather utilize the following ways to raise money for your musical career.

How to raise money to fund your musical career in Nigeria.

Below are some of the ways you can raise money to fund your musical career.

  1. Reach out to rich family members and friends. Even those who are not well-to-do, might in some way contribute towards your musical career. All you need to do is to create awareness amongst your family members and friends that you need their support to become successful in your music career. You can print support funds envelopes and attach CDs of your demo song to ask for their support.
  2. Find a sponsor. There are lots of people out there who are willing to sponsor upcoming artists in the Nigerian music industry. All you have to do is to go searching for these kinds. We have an article on this platform that will show you how to find sponsors for your music career.
  3. Get a job or hustle. If the above two steps don’t seem to work out, then you need to find a paid job or business that will fetch you some cash. Especially in this digital age, you can source ways to make passive income online.

3. Tech know-how of the music business in Nigeria.

Tech know-how of the music business in Nigeria is simply the knowledge base that helps you understand the things to do and steps to take towards becoming successful in your music career.

In my years as a music adviser and promoter in Nigeria, I have come to realize that upcoming artists in Nigeria are not willing to learn.

But think about how people have to spend so many years in school to study for a degree that will help them secure a job in their respective fields of endeavor.

And you will be surprised to discover that all the superstars in Nigeria have music advisers and managers who work around the clock to make them successful.

Therefore, as an upcoming artist who knows nothing about the music industry in Nigeria, you should be willing to study in order to get the Tech-know-how of the music industry in Nigeria.

Important Tech know-how of the music business.

Below are the important areas you need to be knowledgeable about in the Nigerian music industry.

  1. Music composition. Composing music is one of the areas upcoming artists in Nigeria fail so much. They will just pick a pen and paper and write whatever they feel they should write without following the format other established artists are using. Since AfroBeats is the main musical genre in Nigeria, you can read this article to discover how to compose it. How To Write Afro-Pop Songs.
  2. Music production. As a music promoter in Nigeria, I can firmly attest that 95 percent of the music I receive for promotion from upcoming artists is poorly recorded. This is because they settle for a less expensive producer and studio for their music production. Not knowing that high-quality production is the main key to success as an upcoming artist in Nigeria. And to achieve that you need to work with an experienced producer, or even set aside a budget to set up your own small home recording studio. And the latter will give you enough time to work on perfecting your songs.
  3. Music promotion. No matter how talented and rich you are to make good music, if nobody is listening to it, there is no way you are going to become successful in Nigeria’s music industry. And so, one of the Tech-know-how of the music industry you should have is how to promote your music. There are various ways to do this and you can read the articles below to discover how.

Please share this article to help other upcoming artists know what it takes to be a successful artist in the Nigerian music industry.