Overpriced Fees & Disconnect With Fans: Time For Afrobeats Stars To Get Responsible
A spate of cancellations appears to have engulfed the Afrobeats scene, at least in terms of concerts in the UK. In the last fortnight alone, the trio of Tiwa Savage, Kizz Daniel and Adekunle Gold has rescheduled their concerts in London. Burna Boy, who has been on an incredible run, had to cancel a show in South Africa and another in Denver that was supposed to be held this weekend. Add to that the Afronation festival previously planned for Lagos in December. As British media personality Gracey Mae asked on Twitter, is this as a result of the cost of living crisis in the UK, case of too much ambition in venue size, buyers’ fatigue as too many concerts are targeted at the same pool of fans, or indeed, a case of overpriced tickets? But before one could say “Afrobeats!”, several industry practitioners had chimed in to provide their insight. For example, Paul Okoye, who has run One Africa Music Fest, had this to say on Instagram: “Nigerian artists price themselves out of the market, now concerts are declining globally. Will Nigerian artists reduce their prices in Nigeria?” His comment section is filled with fellow promoters expressing the whole sentiment.
Anyone who works in or around the Nigerian music industry would have been impressed by, inspired by and worried by the increase in artist booking fees. On the one hand, it is impressive that Afrobeats music has become a global phenomenon that captivates people worldwide. It is what we hoped would happen, coming from the days when Nigerian entertainers were seen as unimportant. It is moving to see clips such as Rema being stunned as the audience in the US screams, “Baby, calm down, calm down…” or Asake at the O2 when, only two years ago, he was trying to find a way to push his music. But it becomes worrisome when you attempt to book artists and hear the mind-blogging fees they charge. As someone who has had these conversations, I can say that none of the biggest names charge less than $ 100,000 per show. Even relative newcomers charge as high as ten million naira – in a country where most of the population earns less than 40% of that amount annually. And don’t even get me started on the ridiculous demand for private jets!
For diaspora fans, the conundrum is not that hard to resolve: various other activities could replace Afrobeats artists if they become overpriced. There’s also the option of a combo-version concert where the stars don’t necessarily have to hold headline concerts in O2 Arena or Wembley. Sure, those are aspirational moves that anybody would want to make. But there’s nothing wrong with entertainers collaborating on shows and selling out smaller arenas. No law says anyone has to have a “record-breaking concert” every year.
However, this development belies a more serious one: Afrobeats stars have not necessarily behaved in the best interest of fans or the culture. Last week, in this column, I wrote that the success of Afrobeats has seduced us into thinking that the industry that birthed it has developed in real terms. More than anything else, the demands have shown that as a collective, Afrobeats musicians have been self-absorbed, self-centred and plagued with narcissism that would make King Narcissus himself amazed. Why do Afrobeats artists need to charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to perform at home? Why do they mandatorily require private jets when it’s not their regular mode of transportation? Why do they have riders that demand “ten bottles of Moet, five bottles of Azul, six packs of Perrier” – for instance?
To me, it only proves that they do not understand the importance of this moment and why it is essential to protect the system that brought them to the limelight. It appears that they only care for individual glory over collective institutional and cultural advancements. The famous phrase “Afrobeats to the World” is increasingly a motto for these artists to grab everything they can now without caring if it is sustainable. This is evident in how they treat local supporters versus international fans. When was the last time your favourite artiste went on local media for an interview? When did they last do an ordinary Instagram Live session to engage with fans? Yet when it’s the high season, and they hold shows, they treat it like they were doing fans a favour.
Now that it’s getting to a critical point where promoters like Paul O are speaking up publicly about booking fees, one wonders how many more years Afrobeats can run at this rate. The structure we speak of repeatedly includes issues such as this and the entire process that makes it such that artists have already outlaid millions of naira in promotions, influencer management, distribution and music videos before they “blow”. Otherwise, Afrobeats is in danger of creating a bubble that may burst anytime soon, truncating all the dedication, hard work and sacrifice pioneers, innovators and musicians have put in for many decades before getting to this point.
By the way, Nollywood once experienced something like this: in 2004, film marketers placed a ban on some of the industry’s biggest stars, including Genevieve Nnaji, Ramsey Noah, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Uche Jombo, Jim Iyke and a couple of others. Marketers felt that their A-listers charged too much and decided not to feature them in the movies they were responsible for. While the ban lasted, newer stars emerged and displaced the chokehold of their senior colleagues. Will it be a good experiment if promoters and fans boycott their larger-than-life music stars? It’s not my mouth that you will hear it.
Jide Taiwo is a Lagos-based writer. His second book, E File Fun Burna: The Incredible Stagecraft of Burna Boy, is out
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