I don’t intend to write much on this, because it’s already a well-known fact that upcoming artistes in Nigeria are given a little or no prestige at all for their talents. So I will make it to be brief and straight-to-the-point as possible.
An upcoming artiste (whether singer or rapper) is always ridiculed and taking for granted, not minding the sacrifices he had to make in order to get to the point where he is. As an artiste, before you record a song, you must write down the lyrics and rehearse very well before going to the studio.
In the studio, you must pay the producer before he produces your song (not minding whether he is an upcoming producer or a veteran).
After the production, you would pay a Graphics Designer to design the song cover art for you. And then afterwards, pay bloggers to upload the song on their sites and blogs.
It doesn’t just end there, you must also pay radio presenters before they would play your song on-air. Pay video directors to shoot video for you, and Television presenters to play your video on tv. And you will also pay DJs before they play your song in parties and clubs.
By the time you finished all these things, all your life-savings must have been gone by then. And mind you, you’ve not gained anything yet.
The only way you’re supposed to benefit a little or be compensated is through the small money that you’re expecting show/event organizers to pay you before you perform in their shows. But guess what? They will organize the shows and still expect you to perform free-of-charge, simply because you’re an upcoming artiste. Meanwhile, they have paid upcoming DJs to play songs at the show, and upcoming Graphic Designers to design posters.
Upcoming artistes are not some sort of charity organizations. We also pay bills, for chrisakes. So enough is enough. Let’s say no to free shows. It’s our right. We need a royalty. If they are not paying, we are not performing.
#SayNoToFreeShows #NoTalentInTheMarket
