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Issues in Profitable Marketing of Nigerian Popular Music 

Artistes’ Works 

 

By 

Stella N. Nwobu & Agatha Ijeoma Onwuekwe 

 

 

Abstract 

From the early 1970s till around 2013, conventional music marketing in Nigeria has 

been a lucrative business starting with the selling of vinyl records such as SPs, EPs, LPs 

and mp3; CDs and VCDs took over by late 90s. From 2015 till date, music marketing 

has been struggling to survive as a result of many challenges that emanate from the use 

of social media and technology, from issues relating to exploitative contracts and 

agreements, copyright infringement (piracy), music copyrights, royalties collections, 

and more. This paper attempts to look at various issues of the conventional music 

marketing that encroached into the rights of marketers and artistes as entrenched in the 

legal and institutional frameworks of Nigerian music industry. Normative ethical theory 

of Aristotle forms the bedrock for this paper. The study made use of descriptive survey 

method to collect data. Primary as well as secondary resources were used in order to 

elicit information. It discovered among other things that there is need for re-

establishment of legal framework which needs to be deriven by legal enforcement 

organizations that regulate the activities in the industry. 

Keywords: Nigeria, music, marketing, copyright, piracy, internet 

 

 

Introduction 

Music marketing is one of the major careers in the music industry; it is 

essentially the intersection of music and marketing. Musical works are 

provided by artists while marketing activities are done by the marketers. 

This is an area of music careers where both artists and marketers are 

indispensable companions; one cannot survive without the other as music 



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artistes create, perform and release music either independently or through 

record labels. Music marketing involves marketers and artistes, where 

artistes prepare music albums and hand them over to the marketers who 

then design and implement advertising campaigns to promote artistes and 

releases through TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and crnivals. They 

examine how music and consumers behaviour interact, showing how 

effectively using music brings products and services closer to their 

customers. They help musicians unlock their full potentials.  Through the 

process of marketing, actions are implemented to reach and persuade 

general fans and create awareness for artiste’s work. Beside talent and 

production, marketers are the key component in turning artistes into stars. 

They amplify artistes’ hard work and talents to millions of potential fans.  

In Nigeria,  music artists are given rights to record music, sell or 

distribute copies of the music they recorded in different formats, perform 

the music in public, recreate the musical work and prevent others from 

doing any of these acts without their acquiescence. Marketers who are 

desirous of dubbing and marketing artists’ albums after paying 

contractual fees are given the rights to dub such works into cassette, CDs 

or any other format and to market such works not withstanding that the 

copyright belong to the licensors. Marketers and the rights of musicians 

are embedded in Nigerian music law. Mbanugo (2020: 119) asserts that 

“music law is essentially a subset of entertainment law that guides 

specific issues in the music industry. Such issues being but not limited to 

music publishing, music licensing, copyright ownership, contracts 

amongst others”. He went further to explain that music law covers a 

range of traditional legal subjects including intellectual property law 

(copyright law, trademarks, image publicity rights, and design rights), 

competition law, bankruptcy law, contract law, defamation and, for the 

live events industry, immigration law, health and safety law, and 

licensing. This law is a very important aspect of law that guides the 

affairs of the stakeholders in the industry and it equally regulates their 

conduct.  

According to the Registry of Trademarks, Patents and Designs, Federal 

Ministry of Trade and Investment (2011), the principal legislation on 

copyright in Nigeria is the Copyright Act (as amended), Chapter C20, 

Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004. It states that:  

Copyright law grants authors, composers, songwriters, and other creators’ 

legal protection for their literary, artistic and other types of creations, 

which are usually referred to as works”.copyright law gives an author or 

creator of work a diverse bundle of exclusive rights over his/her work for 

a limited bur rather lengthy period of time. These rights enable the author 



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to control the economic use of his work in a number of ways to receive 

payment (p. 1). 

Marketers and musicians in Nigeria need to understand copyright laws to 

enable them know when authorization is essential and how to go about 

obtaining it. They should understand the types of works that are 

copyrightable and the criteria to meet to qualify for protection. In 

Nigeria, to qualify for copyright protection, the basic requirements to be 

met include: 

a. Originality - the work must have an original character. It must 

originate in its expression from the author and not copied from 

another work or from another material in the public domain.  
 

b. Fixation – the work must be fixed in any definite medium of 

expression that can be  known, or later developed and  from which 

can be written on paper, stored on a disk, and recorded on tape. 
 

c. The author at the time of the work must be a citizen of Nigeria, a 

person domicile in Nigeria and the work is a sound recording made 

in Nigeria, published first in Nigeria (Registry of Trademarks, 

Patents and Designs, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, 

2011).  

Discussing rights accruable to owners of musical compositions, 

Famojuro and Nebolisa (2021) state that a copyright owner of a musical 

work has an exclusive right over acts stated in section 6 (1) (a) of the 

NCA subject to the exceptions specified in the second schedule to the 

NCA –  which include the reproduction of the work,  publication of the 

work, performance of the work in public, public display of the work, 

preparation of derivative works, commercial distribution of the work by 

way of retail, lease, hire, loan or similar arrangement, communication of 

the work to the public by a loudspeaker, among others. They further 

stress that “for creators of designed works like musicians to be protected 

under the law, must have sufficient effort in addition to the work being 

fixed in a tangible medium of expression from which it can be perceived 

or reproduced” (p. 1). 

Two works which emanate from the recording of a song that are 

protected by copyright are musical works and sound recordings. Musical 

works are created by songwriters or composers of work while sound 

recordings are created by the performers and producers of the recordings. 

The interpretation section of the Nigerian copyright Act (NCA) Cap (28) 

Laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004 according to Famojuro and Nedolisa 



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(2021) defines musical works to mean any musical composition, 

irrespective of musical quality and includes works composed for musical 

accompaniment and sound recording is defined to mean the first fixation 

of a sequence of sound capable of being perceived aurally and of being 

reproduced” (p. 1).  Copyright in musical works exists throughout the 

lifetime of the author and continues for a period of seventy years after the 

end of the year in which the author of the work dies and if owned by two 

authors the copyright lasts for seventy years after the death of the last 

surviving author. Copyright in sound recording lasts for fifty (50) years 

after the end of the year in which the recording was first published. In 

Nigeria, copyright laws confer right to creators of artistic, musical or 

literary works which gives exclusive right on the copyright owner and 

eliminates any other person from replicating or exploiting the work 

without the authorization of the copyright owner. Copyright owner can 

prevent those original elements from being used by others and to control 

commercial exploitation of original works without proper authorization. 

Music marketing business in Nigeria is not without challenges that can 

only be remedied with the re-establishment of ethical principles that can 

guide the industry (ethics of morality). The reasons for this are for the 

well-being of consumers and the application of standard of fairness or 

moral rights and wrongs to marketing decision making, behaviour and 

practice, in order to satisfy the needs of both customers and the 

organization. Marketing ethics sets the guidelines for which good 

marketing is practised. To market ethically and effectively one should be 

reminded that all marketing decisions and efforts are necessary to meet 

and suit the needs of customers, suppliers, and business partners. Music 

marketing should set guide lines, rules, norms, codes and principles that 

will lead musicians and all other music workers to make moral decisions.  

Ethical principles guiding music production assist music workers in 

determining what is right and how to choose the best from several 

alternatives. 

Conventional Music Marketing 

In the past, Nigerian music industry’s focus, revenue-wise, was limited to 

physical music sales, fees from appearances and shows and, for the more 

popular artists, endorsement fees from music product.  Music marketing 

was all about pushing out music with big money to fit in front of as many 

people as possible and this is the way most records are made. A music 

artist creates, performs and releases music independently or through a 

record label. He signs a recording contract drafted by the marketer’s 

attorney for a major label and hands in his or her recordings. The 



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company then turns them into records. Such company moves the artistes’ 

records to distributors and retailers for the selling of such records to 

consumers. The company then gears up its advertising, promotion, and 

marketing. They tend to bombard traditional media (like TV, radio, 

magazines and newspapers). They also use music videos and live 

performances to monetize and promote their artists. The norm has been 

music for music creators to put the basic principles of retail marketing to 

bear: introduce a song/album), advertise (promote) it until there is 

consistent need for the production. Recorded works need to be promoted 

and even after been distributed, just like any other business needs to 

promote a new product even if the product itself is amazing, for without 

promotion, no one will know about it,  the business will not serve people 

and no money will be made. 

In conventional music marketing, the artiste is responsible for the art, 

making the music, recording it and performing it even when a record 

label has decided to sponsor the recording. The label hires and pays for 

producers, mix engineers, managers, advert, promoters, and event 

bookers, among others, to perform their assigned tasks. The artiste as 

well receives royalty from the record label. According to Passman (2003) 

“the artiste turns his recordings over to the company who then sells the 

finished product. For each record sold, the artist gets a piece of the price 

and the company keeps the rest to cover its costs and a profit” (p.69). 

Sometimes, artiste after recording an album might decide to sell the 

music outright to a music marketer who in return pays the artiste off. 

Through that way, the artistes automatically relinquish the copyright to 

the marketer with the condition that the artistes name and pictures remain 

intact. 

Before the digital and technology marketing era, high potential artiste 

had far more time to grow; experiment and even fail before coming up 

with something great. A record label would sign an artist for three or four 

releases or more and during the amount of time needed to produce and 

publish those records; an artist had the opportunity to mature. During this 

time, big labels would sign the artist and then handle their music 

marketing strategies and promotional activities. When a thoughtful 

strategy is in place and artist and marketer are appropriately aligned, 

everybody wins. The artistes get a monetary reward, additional exposure 

or both. The marketers receive engaging contract to reinforce the values 

of their company and the artiste’s fans get more great art. 

Traditional methods of artist development have always been centered on 

record label investing huge amounts of funds to produce the best tracks, 



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trademarks and image. In Nigerian music industry, the dream of every 

music artist is to become famous; though some people think success 

depends on luck, others know that it depends on hard work and 

opportunities, and on what strategies one uses to promote one’s music. 

Issues from Conventional Music Marketing 

Many issues are associated with music marketing, especially in Nigeria, 

which have implications for overall profitability. These include absence 

of/poor legal framework, lack of training /orientation, copyright issues, 

poor production, piracy, and social media and technology, among others. 

For more than ten years, traditional method of music marketing that has 

worked for years has been challenged. Illegal and unethical behavour 

have hovered around the music marketing business as a result of these 

issues. Recording artistes and marketers, alleging all sorts of wrong 

doings by those who want to make illegal money from the industry, have 

been the subjects of documentaries.  The sense of what is fair and just, 

which is part of cultural values instilled in people from their early ages, 

has been broken over the years. 

Artistes as well as marketers have lost trust in each other. Majority of 

marketers in Nigeria participate in illegal use of resources and 

embezzlement of their artistes’ funds. Once trust is breached, it becomes 

difficult to re-establish. According to the Registry of Trademarks, Patents 

and Designs, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, (2011), 

It may take years to create an environment of trust with an artist and the 

other members of the management team where the talent agent, attorney, 

artist, personal manager and business manager trust one another. One 

breach of a fiduciary relationship can end many years of loyal and 

devoted service (p. 7).  

Absence of / poor legal framework 

For music industry to work properly there is need to have proper working 

legal framework. Mbanugo (2020:118) avers that “like most industries, 

proper regulation of the music industry and creation of an effective legal 

and institutional framework will do great good to ensuring that the gold 

present in such industry is greatly explored, mined and harnessed”. But 

looking at the relationship between some marketers and their artistes, one 

believes that lots of things have gone wrong even when contracts 

agreement is signed between the record company and the artist 

stipulating the function of the licensor and the licensee. 



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According to Mbanugo (2020:122-123), “contracts are the basic entities 

that establish a relationship between the artists and the record label, 

inclusive of other related persons”. He further listed the very key 

contracts, record deal, publishing deal, distribution deal, administration 

deal, producer deal, co-writer agreement, performance license, booking 

or performance deal, which are music specific to include considering the 

multiple relationships needed to be established and the dynamic of these 

contracts. He equally points out an overview of a few of the important 

clauses in music contracts to include: 

 Term and Distribution which states the time for which the contract 

will be operative. 
 

 Exclusivity which explains that artist cannot give similar 

obligations and rights to another entity. 
 

 The territory which explains the area to which the contract will be 

applicable. 
 

 Grant of rights uniquely the specific rights accruable to distinct 

parties. 
 

 Termination right explains conditions where the contract can be 

terminated. 
 

 Advance and royalty rates state the advances and royalty rates to be 

given to the artists. 

Even after these conditions, some of the marketers don’t keep to the 

agreement. They swindle the artiste because the artiste might be a novice 

and has no way of keeping track of what is happening (the number of 

records sold). The artiste, who is ignorant of what is happening in the 

business, might be popular but without getting or ripping the fruit of his 

labour. In some cases, the artistes abandon the record label for one reason 

or the other which would amount to a breach of contract and make them 

liable. All these can frustrate the artiste and hinder his creative 

compositions. 

Lack of training /orientation 

Another issue affecting the music marketing industry in Nigeria is lack of 

lack of training /proper orientation of aspiring artists on peculiarities of 

music industry. This is very important as the success of this industry 

depends on the training of young and aspiring artists many of whom do 



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not comprehend the innards of the contracts signed for marketers thereby 

making it essential to train or engage the services of professionals in this 

regard. Conflicts between marketer and artiste may arise as a result of not 

keeping to the terms stipulated in the direct agreements (contract) made 

and signed. There is need to get a legal practitioner to scrutinize the 

agreement before signing it in order to avoid crying out against 

exploitative contracts. This is found to be in conformity with what 

Mbanugo (2020) says: 

It is fairly easy for marketers to take advantage of artists especially if such 

artist is relatively new in the music scene, has little legal knowledge and 

just looking to land a major deal. They most often sign off a great 

percentage of their rights and the benefits accruable to that. We see this 

very often as young artists over time begin to cry out against exploitative 

contracts. (p. 124). 

Signing of contract agreement shouldn’t be done in haste, even with an 

attorney, without studying the implications of the deal. 

Copyright Issues 

“Copyright is a form of legal protection given to many kinds of created 

works such as musical compositions or songs, lyrics, records (CDs, LPs, 

Singles, 45s, cassettes, DAT, etc) poems, films, TV shows, computer 

software and commercials” (Mbanugo, 2020:121). Copyright is not only 

one of the major pillars for sustenance of the entertainment industry, but 

it is indeed a cornerstone; an indispensable factor for the very existence 

of music industry. It is the bedrock of the music industry. It enables 

music owners, creators and entrepreneurs to make a living from their 

creative/intellectual works, and gives any author or owner of musical 

work the right to copy, (meaning reproduce, perform, adopt, rework) 

their own music. Passman (2003) defines it as “a limited duration 

monopoly which promotes the progress of science and useful arts by 

giving creators exclusive rights to their works for a while” (p. 191).  

Ekpo, 1993 in Okwilagwe (2002) avers “copyright is closely related to 

music.” (p. 106).  

According to Mbanugo (2020), the importance of copyright law 

regulating the music industry can hardly be over-emphasized hence this 

law is one of the laws with the primary function under the law to protect 

from annexation the fruits of a person’s work. He further asserts that 

“this protection is of immense importance generally to actors, 

playwrights, performers and other artistes; particularly it is important to 

musicians and composers of music… (121). Okafor (2002) opines that: 



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Copyright is the moral and financial rights creators have over their works. 

So, copyright grants an author, an artist, writer, publisher, musician, 

performer, photographer, architect, film maker, sculptor or any other 

creator rights over his/her work. He/she has the moral rights, which make 

it mandatory that his/her authorship to the work must always be 

acknowledged anytime it is used. Then he/she has the financial rights, 

which confer on him the right to earn a living and profit from the sale, 

exhibition, hire or other use of his/her work (p. 114). 

The issue in Nigerian music industry is that many copyright holders are 

not aware of their rights so that they can rise up to fight for the rights 

under the provision of the law. Some are too cautious to go to court to 

seek recompense. Some may also be too poor to get legal aide to pursue 

their claims through the court. Olatunbosum (2014) opines that 

“copyright law protects the owner of rights in artistic work against those 

who copy, those who take and use the form in which the original work 

was expressed by the author, without license or due authorization” (p. 

15). 

In Nigerian music industry, lots of copyright works exist but artists 

couldn’t register them because they are not original works. Osele 

(2010:191) points out that “most of our musicians are not original”. 

Some of our artistes are fond of manipulating and copying each other’s 

song and style resulting to copyright infringement. The Copyright Act 

stipulates those conditions that must be satisfied before an author can lay 

claim to copyright. It is not all works that are eligible for copyright. In 

Nigerian music industry, copyright has been established, developed and 

administered without much effect because of ignorance of most of the 

artistes regarding the rights. 

Some corrupt marketers in Nigeria aide in crippling the business because 

of copyright issues. Okwilagwe (2001: 109) lists some strategies that 

have been put in place to ensure effective implementation of the 

copyright system; hence opportunities have been provided for the 

copyright owners to maximally exploit rights as follows: 

1) Institute an action to recover damages that may result from the act of    

infringement  

2) Institute criminal prosecution to punish infringers 

3) Use Anton pillar order (a device to prevent piracy) 

4) Ensure that an appropriate contract is signed with the producer 



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5) Join a collective society for collective administration of right. 

In Nigerian music marketing industry in recent years, lots of marketers 

have failed themselves as well as some of their artistes. They exploit their 

artistes since they are inferior to them and cannot challenge their 

superiority.    

Poor Production Processes 

Conventional music marketing was seen as a lucrative business which 

attracted even unprofessional persons to venture into the business just to 

make money. Some artistes simply want to become popular, to be 

exposed and some marketers want to make money irrespective of how 

and the outcome. Marketers sometimes force music ideas on their 

artistes, either to translate works from one language to another or 

requesting artistes to record works similar to the existing selling music. 

In some cases, artistes in a bid to make more money usually abandon the 

record label that assigned them which would amount to a breach of 

contract and make them liable. Mayiko (2003) in Osele (2010) condemns 

the attitude of some music companies who are not selective as far as 

music production is concerned.  Once they discover an artiste who can 

give them quick money, not minding whether the music will stand the 

test of time, they go ahead to contract him. At the end the music comes 

and fades. The result is the deplorable standard of living of most Nigerian 

artistes. It is clear that the poor quality of production makes exportation 

of Nigerian music impossible and this in effects reduces the quality of 

sales. 

According to Olatunbosun (2014), 

The music industry is now dominated with people who do not have the 

professionalism and interest to make good musicians or good music but 

are only interested in making money out of the upcoming musicians and 

promising talent in the music world. People now run labels when they 

have no idea about music or the making of music, several artists and 

studio managers are businessmen who only use their resources to promote 

music making with zero knowledge on music professionals (p. 17). 

Most companies do not check materials that can cause them legal hassles 

such as infringing somebody’s copyright, denigrating someone or use of 

obscene language. That results in recording and re-recording without 

restrictions. Album is released and after a period of time, another person 

will duplicate the entire album or copy ideas or imitate such work and 

also release it. What is happening in this field is that some marketers are 



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not interested in any other thing except money. Olatunbosun (2014:16) 

points out that “entertainment industry is becoming more lucrative, it has 

drawn attention from the society. The attraction has initiated people of 

different characters and interests into the industry with genuine, in-

genuine and prejudicial intentions”. The desire to make quick money 

made most of the marketers to delve into marketing many albums at the 

same time and loosing lots of money from unpurchased albums which 

gradually liquidated some of them. Non adherence to ethical principles 

guiding the industry, amongst other issues, led to the near collapse of the 

business in Nigeria.  

Piracy 

Piracy has become a stigma in Nigerian music industry. It is a serious 

problem that defiles solution. According to Mbanugo (2020), the biggest 

issue plaguing the music industry is piracy which entails the use of works 

protected by copyright law without permission, thereby infringing certain 

exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to 

reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make 

derivative works. Piracy’s impact on the revenue and economic benefits 

accruable to the artists is mind-blowing; it takes away a major chunk of 

the amounts. Incidences of piracy in the music industry are alarming and 

act as obstacles to budding talents. Mbanugo further describes Nigeria as 

“a country where music piracy and piracy of other copyrightable 

materials still reign supreme, with the attendant losses of income to the 

authors, music producers and many other copyright owners”. Piracy is a 

somber problem that affects both the marketers and the artistes in the 

field of music production in Nigeria. Efurhieve (2016) opines that: 

It is the copying and distributing of copies of a piece of music for which 

the composer recording artiste or copyright - holding record company did 

not give consent. Piracy negatively impacts the music industry through 

the loss of album sales. In addition, the music industry often complains 

that piracy has a crippling effect on its revenues (p. 268). 

Weinstain (2015) in Efurhieve (2016) observes the negative impact of 

piracy on musicians and the music industry. He avows that with the 

expansion of technology comes financial damage of some kind for the 

artist involved. He is of the notion that piracy is not a new phenomenon, 

it is much more wide spread and its effects are seen on a much wider 

scale than ever before. Olatunbosun (2014) discussing the menace of 

piracy confirms that piracy has supplanted legal business in the music 

industry. That it has not only knocked out the essential backbone of the 

music industry but also destroyed the careers of musicians that would 



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have made significant contributions to global music. Mbanugo (2020) 

agrees that music piracy and piracy of other copyrightable materials still 

reign supreme in this country, with the attendant losses of income to the 

authors, music producers and many other copyright owners. The pirates 

have dismantled all the structures of the music industry (the activity of 

companies and industries that have the aim of promoting performers and 

selling legitimate recorded music) and erected in their place crude and 

primitive structures of the one man one shop business. 

Social Media and Technology 

The nature of the music industry rapidly changed especially with the 

increasing influence of the online/digital environment, which creates both 

uncertainties and opportunities in the market place. According to Clerk 

(2021), the music industry has radically changed in the last couple of 

decades. The internet revolution has transformed the way we create and 

consume music. It has built new hierarchies and power balances, taking 

the control once owned by major record labels and giving it to the 

consumer. The emergence of streaming services and streaming platforms 

has greatly impacted the music listening experience in Nigeria and 

globally. Mbanugo (2020:118) avers that: 

The consumption of art and expression in the music scene has 

metamorphosed over the last decade. Globally and nationwide, music 

sales and distribution has moved from physical retail stores to online 

outlets, providing live streaming options, digital sales, amongst others. 

He further confirms that the supply chain of music has undergone a 

major shift, globally as well as in Nigeria, because prior to the digital era, 

channels to the marketing were typically physical retailers, analogue 

radio, public performance, films and TV. With this development, an artist 

now earns royalties based on the number of streams their songs have 

generated on the streaming platform. Although these streaming platforms 

have made CD piracy a thing of the past, a new challenge was created – 

digital piracy.  

Prior to the emergence of social media and technology, music recordings 

in Nigeria were sold on SPs, EPs, LPs and mp3, CDs, and VCDs. This 

created a huge opportunities for pirates to reproduce and sell these CDs 

at cheaper rate, thereby stripping the artist of any profit on such a piece 

of work. With social media, many promotional practices, such as 

physical retailing, analogue radio advertisements, public performance, 

films and TV in the music industry, that were useful in the past are no 

longer effective or relevant. Because of the internet, there is a new phase 



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of marketing in the music industry – online promotion. 

Savannah (2017) deliberates extensively on the issue of social media and 

its impact in music industry. He noted that the internet has completely 

changed the music industry as we once knew it. Music scene was a very 

different place before technology and social media came into play. 

Before this time, music consumers had to rely heavily on CDs, Cassettes, 

Records, Top-of-the-charts, Newspapers and Radio to access music but 

today the scene is much different. With the power of social media and the 

internet, we can get access to music in a matter of seconds. Digital music 

downloads replaced buying physical albums, music videos on YouTube 

replaced music television and social media sites like Instagram and 

Twitter and trending topics replaced the record labels having to create a 

musician’s fame. He points out that just as the internet gave us YouTube, 

digital downloads and worldwide trending topics, it has also gifted us 

with the biggest craze in music: Streaming. 

Social media platforms have given musicians more control over the 

distribution of their music and through the use of service. Many artists 

now have the option to bypass the industry conventions completely. With 

streaming and social media, the music industry is losing its power over 

artists and musicians as a result of this shift from a product-based 

business to a service-based business. Today, there are fewer major labels 

and an abundance of independent online platforms, each striving to 

promote their artists to over abundance of consumers. Though CDs and 

records are still being sold and people rarely purchase them this way 

because most of us download music on our phones, apps or listen for free 

on YouTube. With most music being free or almost free to access, how 

does any label survive? Savannah laments that streaming is killing the 

industry. When everyone stream music, the number of people buying 

music physically or digitally will dramatically decrease. Social media 

music marketing has opened a new phase of piracy – digital piracy which 

is worst and difficult to trace. Here, artists’ works are being uploaded 

without proper authorization or the consent of the artists.   

Mbanugo (2020:121) avers that: 

Despite the growing contribution of the music industry to Nigeria’s 

economy as a vibrant subset of the entertainment industry, it is still 

plagued with the issue of piracy, unauthorized sampling and prevalence of 

exploitative contracts, amongst others. This is more so in this digital era. 

With the growing trend of live streaming, online downloads and file 

sharing. The artist is placed in a critical position where he gets little or no 

economic benefit for his work. 



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According to Udozor (2020:407),  

The effect of this digitalization on music brought about a lot of changes 

like a drastic drop in the CD sales in Lagos, Onitsha and Aba in Abia 

state which are majorly the main market for music sales, platforms like 

spotify.com, CD bay.com and other internet sites took over music sharing 

and sales. 

The illegal sharing of music from CDs has apparently contributed to the 

current poor economic health of the music marketing industry along with 

other problems. In Onitsha, Emeka Offor Plaza, to be precise, as well as  

Nwobu Plaza, Eke Awka in Awka, Anambra State, people rent stores and 

shops only to pirate music properties. Once an album is released in the 

market, they buy the CD, conver it into mp3 format and start sharing to 

the public at the rate of N20 per track.  Indiscriminate sharing of music 

files have become so devastating to the extent that even music artistes 

leverage on that as a means of promotion whereby an artiste will even 

pay these mp3 pirates to share their song freely. That is how bad it has 

become. (Udozor interview, 2021). This frustration was expressed by 

Austin Ukwu, a gospel artiste as well as a music marketer in the 

Southeast of Nigeria; he said:   

Many artistes and marketers have died because of digital sales. Many 

people who use music as their livelihood have gone to their villages 

because of digital sales. Many have turned their music shops to something 

else as a result of hardship accrued as a result of the change of mode of 

music business via CD sales to pure virtual sales (online). It is a very big 

problem for an artiste who after production and mass production of CDs 

cannot sale as a result of one person ripping the song into system and 

shares the files to his friends online and the artiste will be left with 

thousands of unsold CDs and such results to discouragement effect. 

(Interview, 2021). 

Stella Nadis also laments on how online sales and mp3 aided to the 

crippling of the music marketing business in Nigeria. She confirms that 

there was an unimaginable drop in the music marketing of CDs that 

cause the major distributors to diversify, thereby causing exit of some 

talented artistes and marketers from the industry while the remaining 

ones are struggling to survive. Evidence gathered during the fieldwork 

she conducted in January 2023 indicated that the following record labels 

in Nigeria have folded up and are no longer in business:  

 



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Business Name  Market Location 

1. Galaxy music  

2. Stone music 

3. Biltop music 

4. Pahak music 

5. Clems music 

6. Adonai music 

7. A-Z music 

8. Delight music 

9. Gods’love music 

10. Biltop music 

11. Nas music 

12. Judeai music 

13. Ansonic music 

14. Abuventure music 

15. Chitex music 

16. Obaino music 

17. Adjutant music 

18. ATC music 

19. Confidence music 

20. Nelly music 

21. A-Z music 

22.  Danko music 

23. Apeal music 

24. Joebest music 

25. Chocho music 

26. Nedis music 

27. Homzy music 

28. Old Man music 

29. Abhu Venture music 

30. Mama Ejime music 

31. Ngozi music 

32. Chosen Man music 

33. ND music 

34. Bamco music 

35. O. Ben  

36. Chimason music 

37. Ahia Bere Ego music 

38. Great king music 

39. King sonic music 

40. Ansonic music 

41. Padango Music 

42. Globe Disc music 

43. Ubapasivic music 

44. Motion music 

45. Evans music 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abuja 

Abuja 

Iweka Road Onitsha/ 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Alaba Lagos  

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Nosamu Ajegunle Lagos 

Nosamu Ajegunle Lagos 

Nosamu Ajegunle Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Ogbete Enugu 

Ogbete Enugu 

Ogbete Enugu 

Ogbete Enugu 

Ogbete Enugu 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Iweka Road, Onitsha 

Enugu 

 Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 



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46. Equity music 

47. Mentus music 

48. Kora music 

49. Anodisc music 

50. Ben Nigeria Record 

 

Jos 

Jos 

Ibadan 

Port-Harcourt Rd. Aba 

Port-Harcourt Rd. Aba 

 

Some of those that are still managing music marketing business in 

Nigeria include: 

Business Name Marketing Location 

1. Pandora music ` 

2. Labaco music 

3. Somistex 

4. Onwuzuligbo music 

5. C-Meks music 

6. De nesco music 

7. Neme music 

8. Vinosco music 

9. God’s Grace & Mercy music 

10. Favour music 

11. Majority Record 

12. Ossy  Affassen music 

13. Remmy Jes music 

14. Norget music 

15. Benoka music 

16. Rogers All Stars 

17. Onyekwelu music 

18. Melody Record 

19. Sammy Sparkle All Stars 

20. Vintex music 

21. JJD 

22. Ugo & Company 

23. Judic music 

24. Julec 

25. Bissy Record 

26. Levi music 

27. Emesia music 

28. Obisco music 

29. Uba music 

30. Luik music 

31. Okoli music (Super International) 

32. Ossy Star 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Ugwunabankpa Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Iweka Road Onitsha 

Onitsha 

Iweka Rd. Onitsha 

Nawfia 

Awka 

Aba 

Aba 

Aba 

Aba 

Aba 

Aba 

Aba 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Alaba Lagos 

Nosamu Ajegunle Lagos 

Enugu 
 

 

 



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This evidence shows that there are more people who have been forced 

out of the music marketing business than those who are still in the 

industry.  

Conclusion 

Everyone who works in the music industry is subject to laws that govern 

their rights and actions. Music artists must abide by these laws, as must 

producers, promoters, marketers, music publishers and others. These 

laws pertain to the terms of record deals, royalties for artists, copyrights 

and more. To protect investments of investors in the industry, necessary 

actions must be taken to ensure that the rights and obligations of every 

participant, be it the marketer or the artiste, are exercised. There is need 

for continuous education and training for everyone involved in the 

industry. The artistes and record labels should work with a chain of 

professionals whose expertise is indispensable in this field. The recording 

contracts should not be shallow, it has to be written in such a way that 

ties the loose ends so that everybody is fairly treated, and the artiste as 

well as the marketer is not cheated. There is need to implement well-

written legal contract agreements.  

There is need to establish the means of proving copyright infringement. 

Issues surrounding division of proceeds between the artiste and record 

company should be resolved. Finally, the established guidelines must be 

strictly followed. Music marketing industry in Nigeria needs to adopt a 

proper and common business structure and by implementing basic ethical 

principles into this business, positive changes will occur which will yield 

positive results to the artists as well as the marketers.   

Recommendations 

The menace of pirates needs to be curtailed. The record labels should 

employ experts in order to produce excellent musicians and music. They 

should also work with chain of professionals whose know-how is 

indispensable. To sensitize and to add to knowledge in order to educate 

more on the need to protect more creative works as established within 

Nigerian constitution of 1999, this paper further recommends that the 

record license agreement shall be signed subject to the following 

guidelines: 

1. The agreement shall be made between the “licensor” and 

“licensee’’ (which expression shall where the contents admit 

include their successors in title) of the one and second parts. 



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2. Both licensor and licensee shall present legal practitioners that 

shall work out agreement that will protect the interest of both 

parties. 
 

3. An attorney or manager shall present copyrightable (original) work 

to the licensee while licensor shall be the sole owner of the 

copyright. 
 

4. The marketer shall reproduce the songs to the agreed number of 

copies and shall market same for the licensor.  
 

5. Royalties accruing to the licensor shall be paid to him by the 

licensee. 
 

6. Both parties shall jointly register master tape in any publishing 

company where mass dub of same shall be done with the consent 

and approval of both licensor and licensee. 
 

7. Both parties shall agree on the printing of jackets suitable for the 

work and it shall be exclusive for the work only. 
 

8. Piracy of the said musical work is highly prohibited and amounts to 

a crime.  
 

9. Either party to this agreement may terminate this contract upon 

giving the other three (3) months’ notice of such termination. 
 

10. Upon termination both parties shall ensure that amicable settlement 

of matters is observed. 
 

11. Parties are to abide by the terms of the above mentioned contract as 

failure by either party shall amount to a breach of contract.  

 

 

 

References 

Clerk, B. (2021) 7 of the biggest problems with the music industry – 

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Efurhievwe, M. A. (2016). Managerial strategies and music production 

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Nigerian Musicologists.  No.10.  (pp.260 -277.).  Association of 

Nigerian Musicology. 

Famojuro W. and Nedolisa A. (2021). Nigeria: What musicians should 

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Mbanugo, O. (2020). The music industry through the Law: The need for 

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Mbanugo. (pp. 117-128). Awka: Dolivel Prints 

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(pp.105-112). Ibadan: Stirling-Horden 

Olatunbodun Adekogbe (2014) Effect of piracy on economic 

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Passman, D. S. (2003). All you need to know about the music business. 

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Registry of Trademarks Patents and Designs, Federal Ministry of Trade 

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Savannah T. L. (2017). Technology and social media impact on the 

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impact…  

Udozor, V. C. (2020). Digital music recording and survival of a Nigerian 

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Honour of Professor Chukwuemeka Eleazar Mbanugo. (pp. 117-

128). Awka: Dolivel Prints.  

 

 

Author Information: Dr Stella N. Nwobu is a lecturer in the 

Department of Music, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu 

University, Anambra State, Nigeria. Email: sn.nwobu@coou.edu. 

ng 

 

 

Dr Agatha Ijeoma Onwuekwe is a lecturer in the Department of 

Music, Nnamdi Azikiwe Universty, Awka, Anamea State, Nigeria. 

Email: musikdon@gmail.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


