Music as a Source of Income

In a country like Nigeria, I have actually come to discover that music is beyond just want we know it to be. Music is beyond the beats and the vocals in Nigeria. It is a passion, a movement and most importantly which I will be discussing about today, is a source of income for many people.

Decades ago, musicians are seen as those who are jobless and that are looking for means of livelihood. But now, music have become a very lucrative joy anyone can enter. Whether you are already well known, killing it in the studio or just by simply creating beats on your laptop in your small room, music can be a source of income for you.

Image Source

Over the years, there have been a dramatic rise of the music industry in Nigeria. I can remember 10-15 years ago, you will need to beg someone in my society to take local Nigerian music so serious but right now, it is obvious that Nigerian artists are filling up international arenas, getting Grammy nominations like they are collecting sachets of pure water.

Nigerian musicians like Wiskid, Davido, Burnaby, Asake and many more have grown to be beyond the household names but are now seen as the global brands. Trust me, those artiste I mentioned makes lot of millions from either their album sales, their concerts and even through different endorsement deals. Streaming platforms like Apple Music, Spotify have become a stream of income for Nigerian musicians. If you mistakenly made a song in Nigeria and it went so viral, trust me you are about to start ranking millions in your bank account.

In my little experience, I have come to discover that live performance is where the majority of money in music comes from. I have come to discover that it is one thing for you to be able to record a song and another to pack a show most especially in Nigeria. A lot of Nigerian artist earn huge money by performing in concerts, in shows and private parties especially if you are a trending artiste, you will almost want to be booked every week for one show to the other.

Image Source

People like Davido or Wizkid, when they want to charge, they can charge as high as 200 million just to perform for a single performance. That is outrageous but that is just what they charge or even much more sometimes. And that is why it is looking like a Nigerian, you will graduate from law and venture into music as a career.

Well that is not the only way income can be made in music. Like I said earlier, you can make money from endorsements deals but this involves when you have finally blow or hit the spotlight rather. Immediately you have become a household name, you can be sure that lot of endorsements deals will begin to flock to your table. Different companies and brands will want to use you as their ambassador thereby generating massive income for you. People like Don jazzy for example have endorsements deals with MTN. And just to add to this, all these endorsement deals are not always small money, I am talking about millions of naira.

One of the recent oil money in Nigeria now are those money made from streaming and royalties. I will explain in details. We have a lot of platforms, I mean streaming platforms like YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music that helps to make musicians to make massive income from their music when it is been streamed. The more people listen to the song on streaming platforms like Spotify, the more it brings cash to the owner of that particular music. That has really been a massive source of income for many musicians nowadays.

As I conclude, I will like to establish that music for some people is no more a dream but now a plan. If you are thinking of venturing into music as your career, then you. Should jump to it. The key to be sustained for so long is consistency, hardwork and you unknowing your worth and value. At first it might look like you are not getting the result you desire but it is just a matter of time before you start seeing the result. Just stay consistent.

This post was inspired by the #inleo community and my entry to the #septemberinleo monthly prompt day 23. Feel free to check it out and participate.