Music entrepreneur Chidi Uzoeshi has opened up on the future of the Nigerian music business in emerging markets.
In a recent chat with The Nation, Uzoeshi began with the inspiration into starting his entertainment firm, Maze Music Publishing.
He said, “For me, the term music publisher has always been a euphemism for someone who collects your money or royalties but adds no value to the song. An example of what I mean is in two categories, the multinational publishing companies have way too many songs and so in reality cannot effectively oversee all of them and the independent publishers practise a kind of administration where they only collect what is available and take no initiative to increase the value of the song. If for instance, they collect royalties from six radio stations on a song, they make no effort to increase the number of a radio playing that particular song to ten or 14, which otherwise would increase both values and revenue attached to the song. Besides over the last 18 years, I have witnessed an unprecedented knowledge gap among artists and executives alike in a segment of the music business that is otherwise the most lucrative. So, if there is a knowledge gap in Africa regarding publishing then by extension there is an “operations” gap. A lot of artists and executives all over a majority of the African continent have no thorough understanding of the complex nature of the business and the laws that guide it. All over Africa catalogs are underutilized and songwriters are hemorrhaging value and money. Hence, the berth of Maze Music Publishing, which is my noble intention is to fill the gap.”
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Speaking further on his plans, Uzoeshi said his plans and module are not the norms.
“Disruption of traditional music publishing begins with the operational core and values of Maze Music Publishing. It is not a traditional music publishing company but a music intellectual property investment company so that informs you that the whole approach is far from the norm. I intend to carry along both individual and institutional investors alike and show them that songs are as valuable as gold or oil. Exposing to investors how hit songs and music, in general, have a real value to them. What people don’t understand is that when a song is released, the earning pattern to it becomes very predictable and reliable and is therefore investable. Over time, I will be releasing a paper titled “an inquiry into the economics of streaming.”