ELEVEN LESSONS THAT I HAVE LEARNT FROM AY AND BASKETMOUTH'S DISAGREEMENT

Now that I have heard from both sides, let me share the ELEVEN lessons that I have learnt from this brouhaha:

1. Friendship should not be forced on anyone. 

It is not a compulsory union.

2. Everyone is not and cannot be your friend. 

A friend is supposed to have your back always. 

A friend tells you as it is. 

A friend will not chop your money but will give you more money to support you and your family and even your business.

A friend takes a bullet for you. 

Come rain or shine, a friend remains with you till death.

3. Learn how to classify people into categories such as:

a. Friend

b. Colleague

c. Neighbour

d. Classmate

e. Client

f . Customer

g. Church Member

h  Acquittance: Everyone that you know that does not fall into a definite category will fall under this group. 

4. People who lack empathy and emotional intelligence cannot be your friend but they can still be your colleague, neighbour and acquittance.

5. People who lack work ethics use a silly excuse of no friendship to boost their lack of common sense,  empathy and professionalism. 

6. In this entertainment industry, everybody is not your friend.

7. In this entertainment industry, humility and sentiments do not pay because your colleagues and even your clients will use you as a doormat and later as a ladder to achieve their goals to get to the top.  

8. People fail to distinguish between one's character and their talents. 

I do not have to like you to employ your services. 

You could have the most terrible character but you are the best Master of Ceremony for my wedding. 

I will employ you and manage your excesses as long as you do the job better than other people in your industry and I can afford your service. 

I do not believe in sentiments. 

So, you do the job better, I hire you. 

Outside of our work mode, you try rubbish with me and I finish you. 

9. In this entertainment industry, always have a written agreement for all your dealings with people. 

Insist!!!!

..... because even some supposedly legal luminaries like Magnus do not have common sense. 

10. In this entertainment industry, be firm, confident, truthful, hardworking, thankful, appreciative, kind, focused and professional.

11. People say forgive and forget. 

I say, forgive (if you want and if you can) but never forget.

So, that whatever incident brought you to that state in the first instance will not repeat itself. 

Once bitten, twice (one million times) shy. 

Until a matter is resolved, people, especially the victim, never forget.  

So, do not bully people to forgive and forget. 

It is their choice and call to do so. 

Do not nullify or simplify what causes them anxiety or grief. 

You are only adding to their pain. 

So, if it takes fifty years to address their grief, those fifty years are worth it. 

Until you walk in a person's shoes, you will never know their pain. 

#basketmouth

#AY

#ayomakun

Art in Healing Exhibition at the Mother-Drum Healing Arts Foundation Festival (MODHAFEST) 2022

Event Promotion Video

Shortly after my music performance exhibition at Art in Healing Exhibition Modhafest 2022 - DJ Irawo

DJ Irawo

FAIR OR FARE OR FEAR?

According to Legit, despite Netflix making over N350 billion from the popular Squid Game series, the show creator has said he only got enough money to 'put food on his table'.

Copyright: cheatsheet.com

Hwang disclosed that he was not paid any extra bonus by the giant movie streaming platform.

Commenters on this page have gone haywire raining curses on Netflix for cheating the producer.

One of the commenters even compared this scenario to what happened to Nǃxau.

So, I decided to write this article.

Copyright: rottentomatoes.com

According to Wikipedia, Nǃxau ǂToma was a Namibian bush farmer and actor who starred in the 1980 movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy and its sequels, in which he played the Kalahari Bushman Xixo. The Namibian called him "Namibia's most famous actor".

According to San Youth Network, this main actor of, The Gods Must Be Crazy, was only paid $300, even though the popular 1980 movie generated over 60 million dollars.

The film unpredictably became the top grossing foreign film in 1980 and the lead actor, N!xau Toma won, international fame for the same.

Nǃxau ǂToma represented a sincere Bushman with an unashamed smile who discovers a Coca-Cola bottle thrown out of an aircraft and seeing it as an alien thing, he sets off into a comedy of errors.

According to the South African director of the film who first discovered the actor, Jamie Uys, N!xau did not know the value of paper money and he let his first $300 wages blow away.

Before being cast in the movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy, N!xau only had minimal exposure to modern life and did not grasp the real value of money.

However, by the time the sequel movie The Gods Must Be Crazy II was being shot in 1989 he had understood the value of money and demanded more than a few hundred thousand dollars before assenting to be recast in the film.

Nǃxau maintained that the money was needed to build a cinder-block house with electricity and a water pump for his family comprising of three wives and their children.

After his big-screen career faded, in 2000, the Namibian newspaper reported that N!xau returned to his home area living in a newly built brick house where he tended his cattle and became a farmer growing maize, pumpkins and beans.

N!xau Toma was later found dead in June 2003 near his home in Namibia after he purportedly went out to collect wood. It is believed he was fifty-nine and the exact cause of his death was unknown. He had suffered from tuberculosis in the past.

What Hwang got for his intellectual property and what Nǃxau got for his acting work-for-hire service were simply based on the consideration element of their contractual agreements which generally states that compensation must be sufficient but need not be adequate.

See the case of Thomas v Thomas.

So, what they got based on their contracts is fair.

What they got is sufficient fare to transport them from their previous position to their current position where value was added unto them.

Was it fear of the unknown that his work would not be a success that did not push Hwang to request for more fees and royalties in his agreement with Netflix?

This is the reason why intellectual property owners ought to strive to check for loopholes in their contracts before signing them.

They can also earn from their intellectual properties via future royalties and the sale of merchandise.

© DJ Irawo

Music and Creative Career Consultant @ Drumline Entertainment

NIGERIAN ENTERTAINMENT CONFERENCE 2018

UNDERSTANDING EMERGING MARKET TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

The sixth edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Conference held on Wednesday, April 25, 2018.

The conference which was scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. began at some minutes to 11 a.m. Bloody Nigerian time! I got there at five minutes to eight hoping that the conference would begin at 9:00 a.m. sharp!

The Nigerian national anthem was sung by Aramide. She sang the lyrics of the first stanza only, as she played the piano. God willing, I will be opening next year’s conference with the national anthem on my talking drum.

Finally, Tee A introduced the topic of the conference and the speakers, panelists and moderators. Adekunle Ayeni, the convener of the conference gave an opening speech via a video. Everyone wondered why he could not give a live speech since he was sitting in one of the front seats.

JASON NJOKU’S PRESENTATION

He spoke about Instagram stars that are not even part of the traditional scene.

The following are the key points on his slide;

• Your experiments will fail and die. That is expected.
•  The key thing is not ‘turn or be turned into a zombie’.
•  Most companies die. Things are tough. You just need to be tougher.
•  #JustFuckingSurvive

FIRST PANELISTS

1.    Jason Njoku

2.    Lasisi Elenu

3.    DBanj – Daniel Oladapo Oyebanjo

4.    Muyiwa Fortner - Moderator

Dbanj talked about CREAM, his business, an  entertainment content platform. 

Lasisi said that he harnessed new media after doing his homework. He says that there should be more collaboration in the entertainment industry.

Secrets of Success of Iroko TV

1. Have a proper structure for your business.
2.  Have a corporate governance.
3. Prepare contracts and work according to the contracts and ensure that your clients and staff work in accordance with these contracts

DBanj says that before we collaborate with organizations, we should think of the needs of that organization and give it to them. He says that we should always be intentional. He further asks Jason Njoku if the music of artistes on the CREAM platform can be sold on the Iroko platform. Jason replied positively.

Dbanj says that there is a distribution problem in Nigeria and that is the problem he is trying to solve. Furthermore, he says that from May, actors will be on the CREAM platform.

SECOND PANELISTS

1. Akintobi Olamide – Moderator
2.  Obi Asika
3.  Cobhams Asuquo

They discussed the topic: Opportunities in Entertainment and Technology

The panelists spoke with respect to;

• Distribution 
•  Tours

Obi Asika said that only about 2% of the population of entertainment money is monetized. He says further that focus is the key factor. He says that we can check for examples of entertainment contracts on taxi.com.

 

He went on further to say that our intellectual property is bigger that our policy.

He finally said that to protect our intellectual property, we should email our songs to ourselves after composing it so as to secure our rights to the song with a date.

Cobhams Asuquo asks; Are singers ready to admit to the contribution of songwriters in their songs?

He says that even if policies are set up, integrity is the only action that can make it work.

Building Content for a general generation.

The speaker that talked on this topic was Martin Mabutho, the general manager of Multichoice. 

He said that Multichoice was established in 1995 and that the DSTV cut across eight countries, including Nigeria, from its inception. 

The 2016 app was launched in 2016. He said that the individuals who have content can bring it to the DSTV office and then discussions can be made and if the company likes your content, you can then enter into a contract with them.

The content that DSTV accepts must be in line with their strategy. Short films too are accepted and paid for.

THIRD PANELISTS

Topic: Monetizing Alternative Sounds and Music

1. Lydia Idakula Sobogun – Moderator
2. Simi
3. Braimo
4. Dare Art Alade

Lydia asked Braimo why he dressed up in a g-string in his recent music video. He replied that he depicted a bush man living in a big city and this depicts our illiterate activities in a civilized environment. 

He also said that we are consumers and if all our imports such as microphones, cars, etc, are taken away from us, we would all be naked.

Lydia asked Simi why she switched from gospel music to alternative music and she replied that she wanted to sing a love song but the ideas for them were not coming; only ideas for gospel music was coming. Probably it was because she was not experienced in these matters and that she had always wanted to write and perform love songs.

Lydia asked Dare what alternative music means and he replied that it is a choice and that to him, music is music. 

Lydia asked why Nigerians do not tour. Braimo replied that we do not have companies that provide tour services and that the available ones 

can only be afforded by telecom companies.

Dare said that as a music artiste, you should have a five-year plan.

These panel discussions came to an end.

FOURTH PANELISTS

1. Sam Onyemelukwe, Managing Director of Trace Anglophone TV
2. The CEO of Accelerate TV
3. Moderator

I cannot remember the name of the moderator and the other panelists. 

The CEO of Accelerate TV said that we should be clear in our minds about the content that we create. 

Sam mentioned some platforms that can buy our music. These are TV stations and airlines. 

He says that we should simply come into the Trace office to drop our music videos. He says that employees that collect money from a music artiste will be sacked. 

FIFTH PANELISTS

1. CEO of Yaaga!
2.  A lawyer
3.  The CEO of Green Room, Nigeria
4. Bizzle Osikoya – Entertainment Consultant
5.  Moderator

The lawyer advised artistes and companies to employ the services of entertainment lawyers.

The Green Room CEO says that as hospitality professionals, avoid clash of brands. Check out their hospitality riders. If they do not have a hospitality rider, check out their technical rider. Some artistes write all their riders in the technical rider.

When the moderator asked for other matters that should be sorted out before an event can take place,Bizzle mentioned the importance of insurance. He said that in the past, international acts had refused to come and perform because there was no insurance for them and their equipment and other matters.

I also added that health is important; first aid and health professionals should be engaged in case of a fire breakout or any form of disaster.

The lawyer said that there are few or no entertainment lawyers in Nigeria and I made it clear to him that there are a lot of entertainment lawyers because I am currently taking a course in intellectual property with focus on copyright sponsored by the Harvard law School and lawyers interested in this arm of the law, form more than half of the class.

The CEO of Yaaga! also asked about songs played by music artistes; if he would have to pay royalties for songs also played by new music artistes in his club who give their songs to DJs to play for them.

I made it clear to him that a blanket fee will be paid by his club to a collecting society such as COSON whether his club played songs by popular or upcoming music artistes. The collecting society is responsible for the distribution of the general royalties to upcoming music artistes and specific royalties to A-list music artistes.

These panel discussions came to an end. The remaining two panel discussions and speakers could no longer hold as it was late and the conference did not start on time because of the bloody Nigerian time!

Meanwhile, the NET Honours 2018 awards were given out to the following individuals/partners:

Most Popular Actor: Ali Nuhu
Most Popular Actress: Moji Olaiya
Most Popular Celeb (Africa): Vera Sidika
Most Popular Celeb (Global): Drake
Most Popular Comedian: Basket Mouth
Most Popular Couple: Banky W and Adesua Etomi
Most Popular Event: Big Brother Naija
Most Popular Media Personality: Toke Makinwa
Most Popular Musician (Female): Simi
Most Popular Musician (Male): Wizkid
Most Popular Person: Bobrisky
Most Searched Actor: Odunlade Adekola
Most Searched Actress: Moji Olaiya
Most Searched Media Personality: Toke Makinwa
Most Searched Musician (Female): Simi
Most Searched Musician (Male)

The event came to an end.

SIXTH NIGERIAN ANNUAL ENTERTAINMENT CONFERENCE TO HOLD ON APRIL 25, 2018

D’BANJ, LASISI ELENU, JASON NJOKU, IYIN ABOYEJI, MARTIN MABUTHO, DADDY FREEZE OTHERS TO SPEAK AT NIGERIAN ENTERTAINMENT CONFERENCE 2018 on April 09, 2018 – Lagos, Nigeria
The speakers, panelists and moderators for the sixth annual Nigerian Entertainment Conference which holds on Wednesday, April 25th, 2018 at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos, have been announced.

The stellar line-up which features leading figures in entertainment, technology and broadcasting will address how the creative industry can study, understand and access opportunities in emerging markets by leveraging the tools, trends and possibilities that technology provides and how to build a totally new world of impact, locally and globally.

The following featured Speakers represent a blend of Music, Technology, Broadcasting and Marketing with designations listed next to each speaker’s name.

Dapo 'DBanj' Oyebanjo - a musician, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur and television personality.
DBanj has won several music awards such as;

• Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards - 2007 
• Artist of the Year at the MTV Africa Music Awards - 2009
• Best International Act: Africa, BET Awards - 2011
• Best-selling African Artist, World Music Awards - 2014 
• Evolution Awards, MTV Africa Music Awards - 2015

 

Jason Njoku, Founder, IROKO 
Jason Chukwuma Njoku is a Nigerian entrepreneur, film magnate and African start-up investor. 
He is the co-founder and CEO of iROKO, one of the early video-on-demand movie platforms for Nigerian movies (also known as Nollywood).

 

Iyin Aboyeji, Co-founder, Flutterwave 
Having already launched two successful Tech startups - Andela and Flutterwave at just 26, Aboyeji has been part of many successful businesses and secured investment from Mark Zuckerberg Foundation. 

In 2016, Aboyeji left Andela to start Flutterwave, a provider of technology and infrastructure solutions for digital payments across Africa which processed over $1 billion in 2017.

 

Martin Mabutho is the General Manager, Sales and Marketing of Multichoice Nigeria. 
Martin will be speaking on DSTV NOW: Building content for a digital generation.

 

Daddy Freeze - is a Nigerian radio host and presenter. He is a senior broadcaster at Cool Fm, Lagos and won the favorite Nigerian OAP at the 2014 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards.

Sir Shina Peters - Veteran Juju musician, "SSP" has received numerous awards and recognition for his unparalleled prowess in the art of writing, composition, choreography and musical prowess. 
Sir Shina Peters has sold millions of albums worldwide and has taken his music to the shores of South Africa, Europe, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and United States.

They will be joined by: 

• Kelvin Orifa - Founder, Emblue
• Colette Otusheso - Head, Accelerate TV,  
• Ubi Franklin - Founder and CEO, Made Men Music
• Bada Akintunde-Johnson - Country Manager, VIACOM  
• Richard Nnadi - Managing Director, Yaaaga Africa
• Simi - Singer  
• Brymo - Award winning artiste
• Lamide Akintobi - Nigerian Journalist and Media Personality
• Bizzle Osikoya - Founder and Principal Consultant, The Plug
• Lily Aninyei, Founder, The Green Room  
• Jika Atoh - Veteran Broadcaster
• Lasisi Elenu - Comedian and brand Influencer. 

Others include,  

• Seun Okinbaloye - Senior Correspondent, Channels TV
  
  
• Lydia Idakula Sobogun - Founder, GbagyiChild  
  Jide Taiwo - Editor-in-chief, TheNetng
  Morayo Afolabi Brown - Host, The View on TVC 
  Oladotun Kayode “DO2DTUN” - Presenter on CoolFM.

“We have carefully selected a group of speakers and panelists who will shape conversations on how the creative industry can study, understand and access opportunities in emerging market segments,” said Ayeni Adekunle, founder of the conference.

“This conference will help professionals, supporters and regulatory bodies in the entertainment industry better understand how to exploit the tools, trends and possibilities that technology provides and how to build a totally new world of impact, locally and globally.” He added.

 

Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NEC LIVE)

Now in its sixth year, the Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NECLIVE), brings together the top minds of the entertainment community under one roof to discuss, debate and share insightful ways to grow the African entertainment industry.

Nigeria is still focused on solving old problems while the rest of the world has moved on to using new thinking and ideas to create new ways of getting value.

Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, Shazam, Tidal, Deezer, Spotify and many more are coming forth to innovate creation, distribution and monetization while the concept of venues and tours is taking a wholly different shape from Europe to Asia and America.

The music business is transforming from predominantly records sales, concerts and tours to a 360 model that’s giving new life to a hitherto dying industry. Hollywood is seeing some excitement, with the boost in rent-or-buy streaming services and the influence of two key things: technology, and surge in measurable consumption from the EMEA.

It is the same across Fashion, comedy, Sports, and media. Demographics are changing, Silicon Valley is building and M&As are leading to a new order.

With the recent promise displayed by the Nigerian music industry, Nollywood, Fashion, Media and Comedy, there is no better time to sit down and discuss what is at stake.

Everything that is transforming the entertainment and creative industries in Europe, Asia and America is potentially available to Nigeria and Africa at large. Technology is already helping us fix payments, dating, banking, transportation and even governance.

It’s time to take a look at entertainment.

Themed Understanding Emerging Markets, Trends and Opportunities, NEC LIVE 2018 will feature three speaker sessions, five panel discussions and two fireside chats moderated by seasoned professionals like Jika Atoh - Veteran Broadcaster, Jide Taiwo, Editor-in-Chief - TheNETng, Morayo Afolabi-Brown of TV Continental, Lydia Idakula Sobogun, Founder - GbagyiChild, Bada Akintunde-Johnson - Country Manager, ViaCom and Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV among others.

With less than two weeks to go, over 2,000 participants have already registered for this year’s conference while more than 10 million viewers are expected to watch the event live on cable TV and online.

Nigerian Entertainment Conference is the marketplace for ideas, products, people and services shaping the entertainment sector. 
Register at nec.ng to attend NEC LIVE 2018.