Most Nigerian record label owners know nothing about music – Dbanj

Nigerian music star, Oladapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as Dbanj, says most Nigerian record label owners know nothing about music.

Dbanj, who was on a panel discussing the topic, ‘Changing The Game: Artistes As Leaders’ at the ongoing Social Media Week Lagos, said most of the new generation record labels in Nigeria were founded by ‘Yahoo’ boys.

Lamenting the challenges confronting the Nigerian music industry, Dbanj also said most Nigerian artistes lack capacity building.

“Most of the new generation record labels are founded by Yahoo boys. You must understand first, why are you coming into music. Nigerian
artistes need a lot of capacity building. It is only in Nigeria that the owner of a record label doesn’t know anything about music.”

The ‘Koko Master’ also explained how he ventured into music, attributing it to the fear of poverty.

Despite hitting some people in the music industry hard, the singer also encouraged young and upcoming artistes about building their brand.

According to him, being a brand is not a day’s job but a daily deliberate effort.

“Just like any product, you must always evolve. The fear of being poor made me think outside the box. This is one of the factors that drove me into music,” he said.

Also known as Eja Nla (Big Fish) by his fans, Dbanj said he is ready to swim in the digital space where he believes the future lies.

He called on business owners and investors to promote Nigerian music through collaborations and partnership.

Also on the panel, the Managing Director, Diamond Bank, Uzoma Dozie, said his bank would invest in artistes if information and data on
their revenue flow would be made available.

Mr. Dozie called for professionalism in the music industry especially as more people would be going digital.