The Nigerian music industry made giant strides in 2017. From cleaner music videos to phenomenal foreign collaborations, 2017 saw Nigerian artistes making moves that pioneers of the industry could only dream of. This, however, is not a cause to relent. We want to see Nigerian artistes do better this year and we have some specific feats we want to see them accomplish. Here are our top six.
6. Visual Albums
Yes, you read that right. We want not only an album that makes sense but an amazing music video for every single song. It is possible!
5. A Structured Royalty System
Year in, year out, Nigerian artistes ask Santa for one thing and it is always the same thing, a structured royalty system. Every year there’s talk of how the industry plans on going about it and The Copyright Society Of Nigeria (COSON), has made several attempts to actualize this dream. Nothing concrete has stuck or proven thoroughly successful. This year, however, we would like to see our favourite entertainers get paid what the are actually due.
4. Conceptual Concerts
‘The Falz Experience’ is arguably the best concert experience from 2017. Adekunle Gold’s ‘One Night Stand’ also excited fans because of how organic and seamless his performance was. It was obvious from their performances and their delivery that both Falz and Gold went back to the drawing board and it would be interesting to see other artistes follow suit this year, using the above-mentioned shows as standard. Show promoters and production companies need to hire qualified personnel to deliver quality shows.
3. No More Reality Music Shows
Please. No More. We Are Tired. Surely there are other ways to entertain Nigerians musically on the television. Coke Studio Africa is really on to something and we hope that other brands follow the fantastic show format.
2. Concept Albums
Jay Z and Beyoncé’s divorce ‘song-tumentaries’ (‘Lemonade’ and ‘4:44) captivated music lovers world wide not only because they were released by HOV and Queen B, but also because the bodies of work were based around a theme. We know we may not get any ‘family feud’ based albums anytime soon but it would be nice to have a Nigerian artiste release a body of work created intentionally around a specific theme.
1. More Afro House
Niniola has given Nigerian listeners a new genre to love but now we want more. No, we need more. We know Niniola has what it takes to make more Afro house jams but we would also like to hear other artistes try their mic with it.
