Waje is one of the most talented and (supposed) successful musicians in Nigeria; unfortunately, if care isn’t taken, we may not see her in the music scene professionally again.
The bundle of talent released a video, which I initially thought was a publicity stunt to appeal to the emotions of Nigerians in order to sympathize with her and give her attention. However, everything cannot be publicity stunt.
Waje is not the only frustrated artiste, she’s not the only one nursing the thought of quitting music, and she’s not the only one investing without seeing deserved results. Let us respect her courage in venting her anger and letting the public know what is going on with her.
A lot of Nigerian artistes have come and gone due to similar reasons, if I start to mention names, I’ll probably not end this piece because I’ll like to analyze the situations that surrounded their exit, but let me focus on Waje for now.
Waje is not quitting music because she’s broke, she’s quitting because she’s true to herself, if many musicians would do this, they’d probably have music as a side hustle with a decent job/business and not as main hustle lots of of them are claiming.
Many of the Nigerian singers you see out there don’t earn from their music, especially the b-list folks, they are still doing music due to the fame, recognitions that come with it and for those looking up to them, but these are not converting into money as we all think – sincerely.
Most musicians in Nigeria today are either into internet fraud, or other forms of illegal activities, while using music as cover up for people to think music is the real deal for them since people believe there is money in music.
Don’t get me wrong, there is money in music truly, but only a few are making the money. I can categorically tell you that many of the artistes we have in the music industry today cannot totally boast that they are 100% legit without a part of them telling them ‘stop lying!’
Why do you think many musicians find it hard to keep up in the music industry? It is not that they are not talented or that they cannot record different tracks, however, when the money for promotion is considered, they break and step aside for those who have the money to spend and those who have the money to spend have inflated the industry to the point that if you cannot pay heavily, you’ll not be heard or seen!
The inflation in the music industry must be controlled if we don’t want our talents to leave the industry or go elsewhere. Many of these musicians need help, some are ready to sing their throats out, but they simply cannot afford the industry.
Take a look at the music industry 5 – 10 years ago, most of the artistes have left the industry, while a lot of record labels are also dead. How many active record labels do we have in Nigeria now? How many musicians do we have left singing good music, consistent and making good living from their talent? This is to tell you, the industry needs proper restructuring and inflation must be flushed out.
