Why do African artists keep leaving producer credits off their digital album announcements?
Producer credits with album announcements are but a simple thing to do. Just talk to your graphic designer and it’s done.
Another Friday. Another new set of album releases in Nigeria and across Africa. But in Nigeria, only Fireboy released his tracklist with producer and sound engineer credits. It’s an endemic that has become commonplace in Nigeria - as the streaming era has continued to catch up and as physical copies continue to lose relevance.
In the old days, the back of physical album copies would contain producer, sound engineer and even label credits. These days, either due to an oversight, a problematic development or a passive non-appreciation for producers that has spilled over into the streaming era, this infamy continues.
The problem with ignoring producer credits is a three-fold;
It robs producers [composers] who are as pivotal in the creative process as the artist of the spotlight they deserve. People can dance to beats as EDM/Techno have suggested, but they can’t dance to A capella.
It’s good documentation for the artist. One of the problems we have in Nigerian music is improper documentation of occurrences, that’s why our narrative is sometimes controlled by western and European media. If we cannot document ordinary production credits, what hopes do we have?
Composer credits help with music mileage. Music lovers are nerds. When they hear music, they want to know everything about it. Mosopoe, a 24-year-old banker and mother of one says, “The credits are part of my overall experience. If I nor see credits, e go be like say I never play the music finish.
“It heightens and elevates the experience for me. It also helps to understand creative direction and artist progress. It does a lot. I have also found out that a lot of music lovers are music nerds like me.”
Do artists intentionally ignore production credits while announcing their albums on social media?
Even though all the artists that Listen Africa! reached out to for comments declined the request, evidence suggests that the problem stems from culture than intent. Most artists don’t appreciate producers like they should and producers have come to accept bare minimum appreciation.
In an episode of Facts Only, one of the curators of this newsletter, Motolani Alake discussed how producers and their efforts were maligned for a long time. You can watch it below;
It’s not like most artists intentionally ignore producers from the digital announcements of their album. The cultural angle is that producers have never been seen as integral to music creation by Nigerian artists like they should be. In the digital era where album announcements are about fanfare rather than substance, the artist would want the vanity of spotlight for himself more than any other person.
More importantly, most of these artists don’t know better. They don’t know how problematic it is for themselves, the producers and the culture. Yet, producer credits with album announcements are but a simple thing to do. Just talk to your graphic designer and it’s done.
Such a shame…
Africa must not fumble the influx of foreign media and entertainment companies
This year alone in Nigeria, we have seen companies like Netflix and Apple Music make inroads into different African terrains. TIDAL is due in Nigeria while rumours have been on since last year that Spotify is due in Nigeria. Efforts to get Spotify for a comment have proved abortive.
From a Listen Africa! perspective, we hope these companies are here to stay and not simply leave after testing the waters. For that to happen, African governments will need to understand these companies and help them - not kill them with taxes.
Second, the promoters that these companies use must also ensure that they hire the right people for the right jobs. If the wrong people get the jobs like it happened with major label influx into African countries, efforts will be frustrated and it doesn’t bode well for posterity and perception of Africa.
The right people can do these jobs, it’s about working with them. Aside from that, these companies must also get the right promoters and not let Africa bear the brunt of mistakes from a few people. Only a few companies will survive in emerging/developing/underdeveloped markets, which are seeing the best of the expansion.
At this time, it seems like a lot of companies are expanding based off their competition's expansion, not because they think their products/services can be useful in other markets. The problem with this is that emerging/developing markets are highly volatile.
The products/services/pricing/branding/consumer interests of some of these companies are kind of elitist and exclusionary. If shit hits the fan, people will blame capitalism and it's aggressive need for growth. Whereas, this is just related to the flaws of humanity.
Lesson: As a foreign company looking to expand to other countries, your prospects are only as good as your promoters - on ground in those countries.
Get great promoters!
Here are the song on the Listen Africa! Playlist on Apple Music, YouTube Music, Audiomack, Deezer and Boomplay;
AFRO&B
Harrysong - E Be You
Keziri & Koel - Shimmer
D-Truce, 3rty & Tylerriddim - Omoge
Burna Boy ft Stormzy - Real life
Yemisi Fancy - No Makeup
Afropop
Burna Boy - Bebo
Olakira - In My Maserati
Harrysong ft Rudeboy - Konna
J-Weezy - Prayer
Donel - Bang like a drum
Rap
Terry Apala - Halle
Kiienka featuring sGawd - Gotta
Tony Franco - Don't Talk Nice
Sihle - Curtain Call
DirtyEastGvng - These Parts
Alternative
Burna Boy - Monsters You Made
Ignis Brothers - I Lied
Jeune Lio - My Love feat. Magasco
Burna Boy and Sauti Sol - Time Flies
Scarlett - 10Kwacha
#ListenAfricaExtra - Here are additional bits of content from the past week;
You can watch Jide Taiwo’s conversation with Kwam 1 below;
You can read Motolani Alake’s interview with Nigerian singer, Adekunle Gold HERE.
You can read Motolani Alake’s interview with The Cavemen HERE.
You can watch Big Brother Recap by Excel Joab and Tobi below;
Here are the best 15 Nigerian producer-artist combos since ‘99.
Fu’ad Lawal, Editor-In-Chief at Zikoko starts a newsletter, Vistanium.
Veteran Culture Journalist, Ayomide Tayo launched the first installment of his newsletter, Naija Times.You can also get his podcast, 234 Essential HERE.
Veteran Journalist and Tech professional, Chiagoziem Onyekwena also manages GetDotAfrica, a weekly newsletter on happenings in African Tech.
Davido Adeleke, Head of Communication at Eko Atlantic started Communique, a newsletter.
Veteran Nigerian Journalist and Director of Marketing at OPay, Osagie Alonge is back with a new podcast titled, A Music In Time.
You can get the playlist on all five streaming platforms HERE.
Follow us on Twitter: @ListenAfrica_
Follow us on Instagram: @ListenAfrica
Shoot us an email for playlist inclusion or a feature: curatealisten@gmail.com