The
two biggest mobile telecommunication operators in the country, MTN Nigeria and
Globacom, generated over N9bn for the local music industry in 2014 through the
monetisation of caller tunes.
While
MTN generated over N5bn for the Nigerian musical artistes who sell their
contents as caller tunes on its platform, Globacom is said to have brought in
about N4bn.
The
money generated for the industry was in form of royalties paid to music
artistes who served or are still serving as brand ambassadors to the two
telecoms companies in the year.
The
Glo music ambassadors, whose contracts were recently renewed, are Nigeria’s
leading music stars, Peter and Paul Okoye (PSquare), Oladapo Oyebanjo (D’Banj),
Chinedu Okoli (Flavour), Jude Abaga (M. I.), Oluwatobi Ojosipe (Wande Coal),
Omawumi Megbele, Bez Idakula, Burna Ogulu (Burna Boy), Ego Ogbaro and Sammie
Okposo.
Globacom
also signed on hip hop sensation, Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid,
after he terminated his contract with MTN. It also signed on the Mavin crew of
Koredo Bello, Reekado Banks and Hadizah Blell (Di’ja).
However,
the leader of the Mavin Group, Michael Ajereh (Don Jazzy) leads other music
artistes on the MTN network. He is joined by Tiwa Savage, Sidney Esiri (Dr.
Sid), Olanrewaju Fasasi (Sound Sultan), Iyanya Mbuk, Chidinma Ekile, Bankole
Williams (Banky W), Kingsley Okonkwo (KCee) and David Adeleke (Davido).
MTN
also recently signed on the visually impaired music artiste and producer,
Cobhams Asuquo.
Our
correspondent obtained the figures from the telecommunications companies on
Wednesday, amid plans to announce an on-demand music service.
An
employee in the Corporate Affairs Division of Globacom, who pleaded anonymity,
said that apart from paying “about N4bn in form of royalties to Glo music
ambassadors, Glo plans to lead the music streaming business in the future,
which valuation is estimated to be about $8.5bn (N1.7tn).”
He
said Globacom’s interest in the music streaming business might be due to the
decline in digital download business, adding, “The streaming business is
projected to grow at almost 40 per cent annually and will probably be over $2bn
(N393bn) business in 2016.”
It
was gathered that the new and rising stream of revenue for the telecoms firms might
have accounted for the recent scramble for top music artistes in the country by
both Globacom and MTN.
While
MTN declined to renew the contracts of some of its music brand ambassadors last
month, Globacom quickly poached them with higher bids.
However,
aside the over N5bn generated for the music industry, MTN said the brand
ambassadorship, appearances and performances fees made for the artistes
amounted to over N500m.
“MTN
has invested more than N1bn in talent discovery and development through the
Project Fame sponsorship platform,” the company’s General Manager, Corporate
Affairs, Miss Funmi Onajide, said.
“The
recent rebasing of the country’s Gross Domestic Product puts the contributions
of the entertainment/music sector at $7bn (N1.4tn) of the total value of $510bn
(N100.4tn). This represents 3.7 per cent contributions to the total GDP
growth,” she added.
According
to her, MTN’s leadership contribution in the sector has impacted positively on
the lives of Nigerian creative talents.
Onajide
stated that beyond music, “MTN has also made significant investments,
partnerships and contributions to helping to address distribution and
monetisation challenges of other creative talents.”
The
Managing Director, Universal Music, Sweden, Per Sundin, had in December 2013
urged telecoms firms in Nigeria to take to streaming the contents of their
music ambassadors “rather than just serving as ring tones.”
“I
am 100 per cent sure that this is the future. Streaming services will be the
next step for global music consumption,” he had said.
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