21st April, 2020
Nigerian serial entrepreneur, music consultant and A&R, Frank Nwafor popularly known as Pimp God, has said every Nigerian artiste needs A&R to survive in the Nigerian music industry which seems to be going through a huge metamorphosis.
According to the music entrepreneur, the music industry has risen through leaps and bounds and has gained international recognition across the world.
“Due to this fact, there has been an upsurge in the amount of new artists that join this industry every day, and one common problem that they all face is getting their voices heard amongst the jungle that is the Nigeria music industry, he stated.
He further said; “Due to the growing popularity of digital streaming media (or DSPs), it is of the utmost importance for every artist to get their music on these platforms. But to do this, especially if money and connections are not available, every upcoming artist needs a very important tool- an A&R.”
A&R stands for “artist and repertoire”, a division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists.
Nwafor also gave the highlight jobs of A&R as personnel that is very important for every upcoming artist.
“They are the ones who have the necessary knowledge and tools to connect upcoming artists with DSPs.
“A&R personnel lookout for certain traits in upcoming artists, they are the ones who decide if the artist has a signature sound, a marketable image, and long-term career potential and also if they can adapt to doing live shows.
“If all these are found in upcoming artists, A&R personnel becomes the personal hype man for the artist. They attend meet ups and events where they introduce the songs of their clients to DSPs who then put this songs on popular playlists, which in turn gets listened to by users.
“A&R are the ones who run the backstage set up for every artist; they are the backbone of the music industry and are often overlooked in the Grand scope of things when assessing the success of an artist.
“A&R outfits are beginning to pop up all over the country but one in particular stands out; The Sound Genie A&R.
“They have worked with artists like Vector, Supa Gaeta, & Bad Boy Timz who have also notably racked up a combined total of over 8 million streams on different digital streaming platforms”, he added.
Nwafor ventured into music distribution, curation, marketing and A&R late 2018 after establishing Sound Genie Nigeria. Since then, he has been gaining recognition in the music industry under the wings of one of Nigeria’s leading record labels; Anonymous Music Group.
Sound genie Nigeria has helped multiple upcoming artists to get their voices heard in the new emerging music industry.