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 Much like the famous "Nollywood" film industry, music is now
big business in Africa's most populous nation.
The music industry's revenue from music sales was $56 million in
2015 and is forecast to grow to $88 million in 2019, auditing
firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) reported last year.
It said the country's entertainment and media industry had an
estimated total revenue of $4.8 billion in 2015 and is likely to
grow to some $8.1 billion in 2019, making it "the
fastest-expanding major market globally".
As in many Nigerian cities, music is inescapable in Lagos, whose
21 million inhabitants can hear popular songs in the form of
mobile phone ringtones or blaring out of speakers on the private
transit buses, known as danfos, that are ubiquitous.
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Artists who sing and rap over electronic backing tracks, in a
genre known as Afrobeats, have seen their popularity in Nigeria
spill over into record sales and sold-out concerts across Africa
and in both Britain and the United States.
In May, Wizkid -- one of Nigeria's most popular artists --
reached the top of the U.S. singles chart in a collaboration
with Canadian rapper Drake.
It is not the first time Nigerian music has found popularity
overseas. Singer Fela Kuti established a cult following in the
1970s among fans of his high-octane sound fusing brass
instruments, organs and guitars.
CULTURAL EXPORT
But the new wave of artists -- such as D'Banj, Tiwa Savage and
P-Square -- have developed a broad fan base that has made music
a major cultural export for the West African country.
"With the advent of social media the music is more readily
available outside, beyond the shores of the country," said Deji
Awokoya, general manager of Megaletrics Ltd which operates three
Lagos radio stations and set up another in Britain's capital,
London, four months ago.
This cross-cultural appeal also means artists raised overseas
have collaborated with Nigerian artists or, like singer Temi
Dollface, chosen to join the legion of thousands of "repats" who
relocate to their country of origin each year.
"I wanted to incorporate Nigerian history and folklore into what
I'm doing - something that I didn't do as much when I was
growing up," said the Nigerian-born artist, real name Temitope
Phil-Ebosie, whose sound blends soul, jazz and pop.
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Some argue that, if properly harnessed, money raised from Nigeria's
burgeoning music scene could be used to address the nation's
economic difficulties.
Nigeria overtook South Africa as the continent's biggest economy in
2014 - giving it an annual output of around $500 billion - after a
GDP rebasing exercise factored in certain sectors such as the
entertainment industry.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Two years later, Nigeria is going through its worst economic crisis
in decades, with the economy contracting by 0.4 percent in the first
quarter and a recession seemingly imminent.
The Nigerian arts, entertainment and recreation sector bucked the
downward trend in the wider economy, growing in real terms by 8.41
percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2016, according to
National Bureau of Statistics figures.
But there is room for growth, since the sector only contributed 0.26
percent to real GDP in the first quarter of this year, the
statistics office said.
"Once the government understands that they can make money, they can
generate revenues from this... I think they will help to protect
[the industry]," Asa, one of Nigeria's most internationally
successful singer-songwriters, told Reuters.
Music sales could provide a much needed revenue source if the
industry were properly regulated and bootlegging curbed, Asa --
whose folk-inflected acoustic sound contrasts with the upbeat
Afrobeats genre -- said ahead of a concert in Lagos.
"Artists can pay taxes. Taxes would help with building roads,
creating electricity," she said. "We need to establish a collecting
society so that when radio [stations] play the songs, they pay. And
then something goes to you, as the government, to help build a good
country."
Collecting tax revenues is difficult in most sectors in a country
where around 80 percent of the work force are part of the informal
economy.
However, in the last few years, the majority of Nigerian music
industry earnings have come from telecommunications firms, for the
use of mobile ringtones, and from other corporations through brand
endorsements, as well as music downloads.
(Additional reporting by Joe Penney, Sharon Ogunleye and Seun Sanni;
Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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