by Goodness Damilola Shittu and Dominic Alonge
The Nigerian music industry, like any other industry, has been shaken by a zeitgeist shift characterized by certain names and personalities each year since the advent of music. Whether it’s the progenitors or trailblazers, each year tends to be defined by distinct voices. Afrobeats in particular has witnessed numerous incidents of artistes who have broken into the scene carving an era with indelible marks.
From as early as 2004 to 2008, names like 2Baba (fka 2Face), P’square, and D’banj disturbed the mainstream music. 2008 till 2010, saw the likes of Banky W, M.I. and Wande Coal making airwaves. From 2012 till 2018, we witnessed the long reign of Wizkid, Davido, and Olamide, which formed the Big 3 (paving the way for the new generation acts), till Burna Boy’s propulsion in 2018 till date. Yet in between these years, there have been underdogs who had a meteoric ascent, despite the Old Cats’ dominance. Of course, with the requisite assistance of technology, and the evolution of social media, the chances of a breakout artist are assured, constantly releasing new songs and increasing their reach.
Navigating the Music Release Frenzy: The Inclusion of the Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs)
In fact, social media platforms like TikTok, and digital streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify are credited as part of the successes of many artists. They have led to many artists battling for top places on the charts and garner streams, providing the notion that perhaps music release is just for this sole gain.
Yet, the arrival of not just digital music streaming but distribution and publishing is a major catalyst to Afrobeats’ globalization. Last year, artists like Burna Boy and Davido were top of the biggest streamed artists, with Asake leading them with over 600 million streams across all platforms. Seyi Vibez closely tailed him with over 500 million streams. This is due to his consistent releases of projects in the year.
But it seems the street-pop act is bent on staying on top of the charts, as he is poised to give his contemporaries a run for their money.
The Seyi Vibez Approach
He was in the industry before his breakout song in 2021, “Godsent” from the album “No Seyi, No Vibez (NSNV)”. Seyi Vibez has had a spiral growth since, propelling him to stardom with the release of projects, “Billion Dollar Baby” in October 2022, and “Billion Dollar Baby 2.0” in December 2022.
While the latter album encompasses few songs from the former, the release of these projects lead to a meteoric rise for the said artiste with hit songs like “Chance (Na Ham)”. “Bullion Van”, “+234”, “Bank of America”, garnering millions of streams. “Chance (Na Ham)” debuted at number 19 on the UK Afrobeats singles chart and peaked at number 7 on the TurnTable Top 100 chart. The track also earned him the award for Best Street-Hop Artiste at the 16th Headies Award.
Usually, when an artist drops a project, a time frame is considered to allow the songs to marinate and give room for listeners to consume them. But this doesn’t seem to be the case for Loseyi, as he released an Extended Play (EP), “Memory Card” in January 2023. Barely a month since the previous release. As if that wasn’t enough, he further dropped two Long Projects (LP) namely “Vibe Till Thy Kingdom” and “Thy Kingdom Come”, which dropped on June 8 and June 23. Within a space of about two weeks.
Whether or not his drive is fueled by passion or a specific goal, it did work for him. He ended 2023 with the release of another EP, “NAHAMciaga”, averaging a project every two months since October 2022. The critically acclaimed EP brought him hit songs like “Different Patterns.” All these Seyi did while maintaining decisive collaborations throughout the year.
Credit: Album Talks
Yet, almost seven months after his previous release in December 2023, “Loseyi Professor”, a 7-tracked project surfaced. Totaling a sum of seven projects in 21 months. Arguably an unprecedented feat. While one can argue that Seyi’s pattern of incessant releases is a major contribution to his success, there are also arguments that he tends to saturate the market with his music–which exhibits similar sounds and patterns– and hence falls flat due to the repetitive patterns. Perhaps this is due to his affiliation with the music distribution company and label, Dvpper Digital.
But this strategy of back-to-back music release isn’t outrightly new, as it has been explored in the past.
YBNL artistes like Asake, for instance, is a notable mention. After his breakthrough song “Omo Ope”, Asake consistently churned out projects, from his debut album “Mr. Money With The Vibe” which dropped in 2022, amassing millions of streams, and achievements. Having secured two notable collaborations in the previous year, the genre-blending artiste opened 2023 with “Yoga” in January, which followed up with “2:30” and “Amapiano” featuring label boss, Olamide. Thereafter, he released his sophomore album, “Work Of Art.”.
All these projects within six months. At the time, critics also debated his consistent releases which carried repetitive elements of sounds, and argued that the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns might catch up with him sooner than later. But the Afrobeats artiste wants to maintain his core sound.
Perhaps Asake learned this so-called strategy from his label boss, who in his earlier days incessantly dropped songs to a degree. For instance, before he released “Eyan Mayweather” in November 2015, (a sequel to 2 Kings), songs like “Bobo”, “Melo Melo”, “Lagos Boys” and “Matters Arising” were released in a space of five months.
The Future of Music Releases
And so while this technique of music releasing isn’t entirely new, some artists have been found to explore it. And some are taking it a step further.
With Seyi Vibez’s owned record label, Vibez Inc. churning out projects for their artistes. Aside from the Vibez. Incorporation Mixtape Vol.1 released in May this year, Muyeez has dropped two EPs in May, and another in June. TML Vibez dropped two EPs in June, while Billion Solar dropped two EPs in June and July.
Not leaving Nerryckole, who dropped two EPs in July. Giving no chance for their contemporaries to keep up, albeit the music industry is too vast for one for a few artists to contain. Perhaps this is a creative experiment utilized by Dvpper Digital to reproduce similar feats as they did with Seyi Vibez. Or is this part of Seyi’s daring legacy passed down to his signees.
But isn’t the constant release of music a nocuous attempt at music? As sentiments are beginning to spring up, citing the repetitive pattern of the songs on ‘Loseyi Professor’. Yet, he seems to be topping the charts and has become the most streamed artist in the first half of 2024. Perhaps this is his most prized vision–to always be on top of the charts.
But will Seyi Vibez and his boys continue to milk this strategy? Or will the law of diminishing marginal return take effect? And will other artists employ this creative approach? This is one only time can ascertain.
