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The music entertainment group said on Tuesday
its new strategic division, Universal Music Nigeria, will
operate from Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos.
Nigerian music, much like its Nollywood film industry, is
popular across much of Africa. Nigerian music artists have
popularised the Afrobeat musical genre and gone on to sign
record deals, sell out concerts and work with international
artists to increase the global reach of African music.
Music revenue in Nigeria - mostly derived from sales of mobile
phone ringtones - grew 9 percent in 2016, year-on-year, to reach
$39 million and is expected to rise to $73 million by 2021,
auditing firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) said last year.
Sipho Dlamini, Managing Director of Universal Music South Africa
and Sub-Saharan Africa said that the Nigeria division will focus
on developing artists and musicians from West Africa countries,
particularly Nigeria, Ghana and Gambia.
"Our Nigeria team will support, nurture, and help develop
artists, while creating opportunities for new talent from the
region to reach the widest possible audience," said Dlamini.
UMG said the new division will work alongside the label's
existing operations in Ivory Coast and Morocco.
Universal Music Nigeria also plans to open a recording studio in
Lagos, which would be the label's second fully purposed studio
in Africa alongside another in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Nigeria's music industry faces an array of challenges ranging
from the lack of proper legal structures, to piracy and
difficulties in distributing and monetising content.
The country's arts, entertainment and recreation sector
contributed 0.29 percent to real GDP in the first quarter of
this year, the statistics office said.
(Reporting by Didi Akinyelure; editing by Alexis Akwagyiram and
Alexandra Hudson)
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