MUSON Scholars Share Music Business Survival Tips

MTN Foundation, the social investment vehicle of MTN Nigeria, recently hosted the fourth edition of its Business of the Art series. Young Nigerians gathered online for a three-hour session aimed at guiding upcoming artistes and music enthusiasts to make informed decisions when navigating the converging lines of business and arts in the music industry.

The programme had two-panel sessions involving industry titans – Vice-President, International Strategy and Operations, Warner Music Group, Temi Adeniji and Country Manager, ViacomCBS Network Africa, Bada Akintunde-Johnson.

Others are: founder and CEO, Now Muzik, Efe Omorogbe; founder and CEO, BHM Group, Ayeni Adekunle; CEO MusicTime, Oye Akideinde; and Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Irancell, Larry Annetts, who was the keynote speaker.

Annetts stressed the need for a good marketing strategy to sustain a viable musical career, saying, “your distribution will only be as good as your marketing plan.” Omorogbe focused on elements required to build a successful career. “The focus should be primarily on the music – the quality; the brand positioning; the type of market targeted; the structure behind the talent.”

Ayeni shed light on the science of communication and relationship-building for young musicians, saying, “it is beyond the music: the purpose of PR is building a relationship with your most important stakeholders on a continuous basis.”
While explaining the key factor in ideation and production of good music videos, Akintunde-Johnson stated that “the most critical factor is the storytelling. The story is the most powerful.”

On his part, Adeniji pointed out that for preservation and value of talent and creativity the government has a pivotal role to play in music protection education. “There is a need to enable platforms that will allow access to music through legal means,” he said.