Stream farm or no stream farm, one thing is certain, the music biz is a game of figures. Its very significance is built on this hill. For those who hope to commercialize the beautiful craft, discerning every profitable platform is the holy grail. Unless your innate desire is to make music for the listening pleasure of your close-knit, then it’s totally fine to evade the trend.
Popular short-form video app, TikTok has been on a meteoric rise, helping musicians accomplish and build a stable pocketbook. The Nigerian music industry has experienced a significant shift in content promotion and distribution. One of the most important effects of TikTok is its influence on artiste discovery and what is considered trendy and attention-worthy. Social metrics and impressions now take a heightened position in a world that is both moving at heady speed and unsure of what other parameters can be used to judge content.
The effect has been pretty much the same all over the world. The inclusion of the internet into the interior of Nigeria in the last decade has been the changing factor for how music is distributed, collected, consumed, and enjoyed; changing the metrics in the industry in many big ways. In a country where we do not really have proper resources to evaluate the commercial success of the music we consume, we are forced to depend on the popularity of songs in clubs and large gatherings to measure what a hit song is.
Thanks to a pandemic-ridden 2020, it felt like a really good time to discover creative sides, there has been a sort of alteration in our music consumption dynamics. Tiktok has become a platform for popularizing songs in the Nigerian music industry and it has grown into an essential promotional medium for musicians and labels.
In this article, we would highlight some major case studies of the effect of Tiktok’s influence on the distribution and marketing of music in Nigeria, and why it is the ultimate cash cow.
LOVE NWANTITI – CKAY
The success story of Nigerian fast-rising singer, Chukwuka ‘Ckay’ Ekweani is a great one for the books as he made headlines around the world with his viral song, “Love Nwantiti” on TikTok. This convinced many professional entertainers and creators that the platform is more than a gag, but a vital promotional tool to express creativity. Love Nwantiti was originally released in 2019, the song become a global trend in 2021 after it was sampled by DJ Yo and Axel and has now hit over 15 billion streams on TikTok, becoming Africa’s most successful pop song ever. The song entered global charts in 8 countries,went platinum in the US, and debuted at number one on the newly minted Billboard Afrobeats US chart.
KNOW YOU – LADIPOE
Ladipoe’s 2020 hit song, “Know You” features an instantly addictive hook and lo-fi rap verse that makes it easy for anyone to memorize and catch up. The duet feature challenge on TikTok increased the song’s appeal and so many people recreated videos of them singing with loved ones. The challenge rolled out in a conversational style that was widely successful on the platform. It has garnered over 10 million views and has given Ladipoe one of the biggest single of his career.
FINESSE – PHEELZ FT. BNXN
Pheelz’s Finesse became a viral trend after the singer shared the song’s snippet online. #FolakeChallenge on TikTok came off with a bunch of users depicting sticky financial situations in different creative ways. The challenge earned over 31 million views on TikTok. Since its debut in March, the song has been used to create over 670K videos and has gathered over 50 million likes. Finesse became the most shazamed song globally(dollar dollar bil yo),dominating local radio in Nigeria and streaming plafroms across the globe.
KULOSA – OXLADE
This particular song is fast becoming one of the most streamed songs in 2022. The falsetto championed performance by singer, Oxlade pretty much made it easier for content creators on TikTok to tap in and recreate videos using this particular sound. The video from the Colors show has gathered over 18 million streams alone. Guess who is smiling to the bank, all thanks to the evanescent power of Tik-tok.
Gentility- Melvitto feat Wande coal
Not only does TikTok play an integral role in music marketing which ultimatley leads to financial remuneration for creatives, it also revives songs that might be considered old or forgotten. Earlier this year, Melvitto’s and Wande Coal’s Gentility resurfaced. The 2019 luke-warm banger suddenly became viral, topping charts and earning big on streams all just because it went viral on TikTok.
Which other songs do you think deserves to be on this list?
