In the music industry, talent and expertise only, does not guarantee stardom. This is why many talents are still languishing in the “trenches.” There must be a combination of talent, marketing campaigns and sponsorship. Many artistes rode to stardom in that manner. In so doing, they and their eventual music label company execute music marketing strategies. These are activities carried out to get engagement and exposure to the works of creative in the industry. It comes in the form of sold-out concerts, endorsements, and popularity by being adopted on radio and TV.
However, the world has evolved nowadays. Music marketing campaigns in the digital age involve leveraging various digital channels to promote and distribute music to a targeted audience. Before, there were no music streaming services in Nigeria, such as Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music. But now, people happily pay for them in the country. So, campaigns now include creating engaging contents, music videos, behind-the-scenes footage, or interviews to attract and engage fans. They make use of social media platforms and influencers to build a strong online presence and reach a wider audience.
Popularity of Portable shows pivot in music consumption.
Very few Portables would have been known about a decade ago in Nigeria. Habeeb Olalomi Oyegbile, popularly known as Portable, is a Nigerian singer, rapper and songwriter who became famous after contributing to the song “ZaZoo Zehh” featuring Nigerian rapper Olamide and Nigerian dancer Poco Lee. His fame truly came when he became well-known for calling out his business partners on social media for scamming him on business deals. Well, that seems to have done it for him as his popularity soared and he began to get deals.
For this to have happened, it shows that Nigerians have evolved in the way that they consume music. It was decades of buying music albums in compact discs. And then, it moved on to downloading mp3 files. Nowadays, music applications such as Spotify serves users with an internet connection with any song of their choice as long as it is available on the platform. Joshua Oguntan, an expert in digital marketing, has something to say on this evolution that has happened in the space of a decade.
Nigerian artistes can leverage on this digital revolution.
Oguntan said that they can optimize their online presence and e-commerce platforms to attract international customers and facilitate export sales. He said that artistes can also collaborate with international influencers or brands to increase global visibility and reach. Also, he stated that they can utilize paid advertising campaigns to target specific international markets to drive foreign traffic to their work. He further said that the impact of digitalization has been significant and evident in the growth of the Nigeria cyber space and how people have come to embrace digital business engagement.
Beyond the music industry, some notable impacts include increased brand visibility and awareness. It has allowed businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to reach a wider audience, increase brand exposure, and compete with larger competitors. This is analogous to what is happening in the music industry as less-known creatives are being exposed through social media and digital campaigns. Through social media and other digital channels, businesses can interact with customers, build relationships, and provide personalized experiences, he said.
Digitalization creates mirrors in every industry in Nigeria.
It is expected that the impact that digitalization will have on different sectors of the economy will be unique. However, there seems to be parallels in each of them. As businesses can now interact with customers through social media and build relationships as well as provide personalized experiences, musicians have also tapped into this advantage. Now, it has become an expectation that every musician should have a social media presence to engage with fans and well-wishers. He builds relationships with fans too and sells his music to them directly.
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