Nigerian music star, Azeez Fashola aka Naira Marley, has announced plans to recruit more ‘Marlians’ worldwide.

He said, “The future of Naira Marley looks bright. I’m not going to stop making good music for ‘Marlians’. A lot of ‘Marlian’ music is coming out this year and with that, I’m creating more ‘Marlians’ globally and taking the movement international.”

Naira Marley, 25, said this at the YouTube Music and YouTube Premium launch at the Google Incubator Hub in Lagos on Wednesday.

YouTube Nigeria said Naira Marley was the only Nigerian musician invited to the event on account of his huge fan base which is arguably the biggest in Nigeria.

In addition, it was revealed that Naira Marley’s ‘Soapy’ was the second most viewed song in Nigeria in 2019 while the singer was the most viewed artist in Nigeria in 2019.

The singer enjoys a cult following and his fans call themselves ‘Marlians’.

Asked to share his favourite Nigerian artistes at the moment, he said, “I won’t mention any artiste in particular but about my type of music, but I love slow Jamz, Fuji, Christian songs, Muslim songs, and Indian songs. I listen to everything interesting.”

At the event, the visibly shy singer spoke briefly about his musical inspiration, as well as his overwhelming fan base.

He said, “The love from ‘Marlians’ is humbling. My inspiration is a little bit of everything in life. A little bit of Fuji, a few drums, a little bit of Muslim music, a little bit of proper Yoruba movies like ‘Abija’ and other traditional Yoruba sounds”.

About the YouTube Music and YouTube Premium

The newly launched YouTube Music is a music streaming service that offers official songs, albums, thousands of playlists and artist radio.

Other features include YouTube’s exclusive catalogue of remixes, live performances, covers and music videos personalised and organised in one place.

While fans can access ad-supported YouTube Music for free, YouTube announced that YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership, gives background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience.

“It’s good that YouTube Music and Premium are in Nigeria now, we need it,” said Naira Marley.

“This platform is going to make things easier for me to listen to my favorite tunes, and it’s also a nice way for me to build more fans in Nigeria and across the globe. It’s about time, YouTube is more than videos, and YouTube is the plug.”

The new YouTube Music app is available to download from the Play Store and App Store today or users can check out the web player at music.youtube.com and sign up for YouTube Premium at youtube.com/premium.

“We are excited to launch YouTube Music and Premium in Nigeria, giving fans and artists more opportunity to connect in a dedicated music experience,” said Dan Chalmers, Head of Music, and YouTube EMEA.

“From your favourite albums to music videos to those remixes and covers you can’t find anywhere else, YouTube Music is your personal guide through the complete world of music.”

Global facts about Nigerian artists on YouTube

In 2019, over 90 per cent of views of the top 100 most viewed Nigerian-based artists came from outside of Nigeria and 70 per cent came from outside Africa

In 2019, the countries where the top 100 most viewed Nigerian-based artists earned the most collective views were the United States, United Kingdom, France, Nigeria and Kenya.

Davido has reached the charts in over 10 countries and territories, including Australia, Canada, the UK, Kenya, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, USA, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Burna Boy has reached the charts in over 20 countries and territories, including the United Kingdom, France, South Africa, Estonia, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, Panama, Kenya, and Uganda.

Wizkid has reached the charts in over fifteen countries and territories, including the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Davido is the most subscribed Nigerian artist globally, with over 2.1 million subscribers.

Launched in May 2005, YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community allowing billions of people to discover, watch and share a video.

YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.