By Emmanuel
Smart:
My usual warning to any musician is,
ignore the Djs at your own risk!
Hit track don’t hide is a popular saying, but it is only the DJ that can make the audience hear it or
even like it. Like Journalism, the DJ has the power (Unspoken) to influence the
opinion of audience about a song. He can make them like it or hate.
Remember, audience make your song a
heat and at the same time have the ability to make it flop.
Research has shown that the song you hear
either on radio or watch on TV become part of you automatically whether you
initially loved it or not, your subconscious mind sings along with it which results
in such individual loving the song and even recommending the same song to
others on the long run.
Although there are few exceptions to
this rule. One of the exceptions is that you have to be a superstar for you to
weaken the power of the DJs a little, on the other hand, it is only the Djs that can make you a super
star therefore it is a bridge you must cross and you are at the mercy of the
Djs or else you crash right down the bridge while making attempt to cross.
In the Nigeria music scene for example, Olamide,
Kcee, Davido, Timaya, Orezi, Iyanya, etc daily churn out nonsense songs, yet
Nigerians see them as hit songs because they have successfully crossed the
bridge and established themselves in the minds of their audience-thanks to Djs.
What they all do is talk nonsense on hi-tech beats and occasionally initiate
dance steps to go with it, yet we dance along. As witnessed over the years,
such songs are not evergreen, they don’t get played for more than three months,
but they get brand endorsements, invited for big shows etc. I am not saying all
the mentioned artistes make bad songs, but all their hit songs are all pure
nonsense. No thanks to the consumers also.
It is not enough to make hit songs
that don’t last more than weeks, rather what make a good musician is his/her
ability to make good songs with good and meaningful lyrics that will stand the
test of time even when the artiste is no more.
As morally questionable the late
Afrobeat Mystro, Fella Anikulapo Kuti, Orlando Owo were, their songs remain
evergreen and will continue to be so worldwide because of their lyrics.
Meanwhile, there are good musicians out there
who are not being heard because the managers either don’t push their songs
enough through the Djs or are just underrating the power of Djs.
Some of such good musicians are Timi
Dakolo, Dare Art Alade, Paul Play, RighteousMan, Mode9 and others. It is not
enough to put your songs online for people to download.
Research has shown that
majority of people download songs after
listening to them on radio or watch their videos on TV. It is important also
for artist to be strategic in pushing
out songs to the audience. It pays to set aside some budget for a professional
publicist not the quacks we have out there.
Don’t underrate the power of the Djs,
he can bury or revive you musically.
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