It happened like a thunderbolt from the blues late last year when, President, Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria, (PMAN) Pretty Okafor shocked the entertainment industry with the unveiling of the PMAN House in Lagos. Ever since the feat, a lot has been happening and the perception of the erstwhile warring music body is enjoying a new lease of life from the administration of Okafor. In this chat with SAM ANOKAM business savvy Okafor speaks extensively on his plans for musicians, why he stopped the performance aspect of music after the death of his partner, late Junior of the Junior and Pretty fame and his projection for the industry.
WHAT informed the building of this PMAN edifice?
We wanted to be different. We wanted to do something that would carry the younger generation along. We wanted to put a structure where musicians would be able to look after themselves when they are alive and even after their demise. That is what gave birth to the structure you are looking at. That is why we created a structure that has multiple benefits like health insurance, life insurance, pension plan, loan facility with a bank, visa assistance and legal assistance for intellectual property. This is what gave us the speed and push to do this.
What business venture is in place to maintain this edifice and assist artistes?
We have a radio station already. That is a commercial station. It has never happened before. This is where we are building a hotel and a plaza for PMAN. What we are trying to do is to build a structure that would be bringing revenue, an income for the union. A whole lot of propositions are coming. There is a whole lot of partnership on production. People want to partner with the name we have been able to revive. Partner in television production, concert production. These are also bringing revenues for the union but what is generating revenue now for the union is the registration drive. The registration drive would enable the younger generation to get combo access to distribute their songs around the world. They have access to collect royalties both locally and internationally.
Please, expatiate the plans for up and coming musicians
There is a whole lot. There is a structure that is already in place. The radio station is giving them the possibility to be seen and heard not just in Lagos or Nigeria though licensed in Lagos. But we have the same radio station on Google play store. Once you download the PMAN FM you can hear the musicians. Apart from being heard in Lagos, they are being heard anywhere you can access the internet around the world. This is also giving them the opportunity to promote themselves without money. Your benefit of being a PMAN member is why your song is being played on that particular radio station. Investors, marketers, record label people that are listening to the station have started picking already. We have been getting calls from would-to-be investors that want to partner with particular artists.
Secondly, it gives the younger generation a standard playing ground where they can now access their royalty for their work both locally and internationally. As they are registering with PMAN, they are automatically becoming members of MCSN and PMAN being the PRO is representing them globally wherever anybody or corporation is using their work. They have the advantage to monitor their work. Once you are a PMAN member and your work is played on that radio station and your work has been distributed through the PMAN distribution network, your work is being monitored where and when they are using it.
Thirdly, PMAN radio station is the first radio station that is paying royalties. Once your work is being played on our radio station because it is owned by musicians, your royalty would be paid. The radio station has started already but the equipment will arrive in the next few weeks. The equipment we paid for is plug and play.
The TV station needs more space, it is now operating on youtube until the facilities that we are building finishes. We are building the facility for the TV station both in Lagos and in Abuja.
What about the prestigious PMAN award, any plans?
You should understand that I am a very thorough person. I can tell you for free that I have a documentation of what had transpired when Okoroji was trying to claim it and I also have the trademark document, so this award we are talking about, NMA, Nigeria Music Award is a property of PMAN as declared by court. Before I came in they went to court to decide who owns the property, it is the property of PMAN.
We are trying to resurrect it as it’s been like 30 years since it was held by PMAN. Luckily, we have been able to change the perception of PMAN. PMAN is larger than life now and that is how the corporate bodies are looking at it. And they are showing a whole lot of interest. As I am speaking with you, we have underwriters already for the award. Before we formally announce it, we would have done our underground work. We have been working for the past two years because of the award. PMA has a whole lot of projects. People are seeing us churn out stuff but this is like a seven – year plan of working and getting everything done. The award would happen this year. PMAN would announce the date.
Before now, there have been factions but since you opened this house, nothing has been heard though the other factional leader died. Has everything been resolved?
Everything has been resolved for like two years back. If everything hadn’t been resolved physically and legally, we wouldn’t have gotten the revenue that we got and put it into purchasing PMAN property. This property that we are in now is not the president’s property. It is not Pretty or his excos property. That means every member of PMAN is a part owner of this edifice. Once you are a musician you are automatically a member of PMAN even if you are not registered. That is what the constitution says. But participating and getting benefits now is through your registration. A musician has as equal rights as I have; it is just that I am an exco member. But because we want the younger generation to see a structure we are making them understand that for you to come in and be part of what is happening, you need to now register. Every other union has their membership registration process and target. Some people say they registered during Charley Boy, Christy Essien, Tony Okoroji’s period, yes, they registered during that time but have they been using the same driver’s license for the past 30 years? Or have they been using the same international passport for the past 10 years? It is not possible. As a member, you need to be renewing your membership and you need to belong to PMAN to have all these benefits already discussed.
Have you been making an effort to bring in other veterans like KSA, Collins Enebeli and others that graced the unveiling of the PMAN house to understand what is happening with the body?
We are all musicians. What is written is PMAN Nigeria Music House. That means it is their property. They have the right to walk in. When we did the launch everybody got the invitation. The way KSA got the invitation is the same way the whole of them got the invitation – Teemac, Tony Okoroji, Orits Wiliki, Mike Okri and the rest. We made sure they all got the invitation. I have the records. We run an open house. If anybody walks in and asks questions, the door is open. There is no musician in Nigeria that would say he has a personal issue with me. The only thing they can say is they belong to this and that faction and I have been saying it from day one that there is no faction in PMAN. We are all musicians, what you guys have issues with is leadership. Now let us come together and choose leadership, that is when they started their old politics. That is why we were delayed in court. I don’t want the old politics that destroyed the union. Let us move forward. I am also working with forward looking and positive thinking people. I am not saying the older ones are not positive thinkers but they always have this idea that we must fight. What we are running is an open platform. Just by Google, you will see the address. Once you are a musician, you are allowed in here and ask your question. If you want to renew your membership, you do so. If you want to ask a question, you can ask questions like how did you guys get the money to buy this property? Can we see the document or whose name is the property bought? But because they have been fighting negatively for the past 20 years to destroy the union, they weren’t thinking of moving the union forward. Some of them are even scared to come around. They are scared because of their antecedents. There is no faction. Apart from running an open office, I pick peoples calls. Anybody can reach me.
Is PMAN also protecting intellectual property of other components of music aside from the performing artist?
The name of the union is Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria. By performing musicians, we are talking about active musicians. Employers are all the people that work with the musicians. The promoters, music distributor, video director, video producer, dancers, instrumentalists, road manager and everybody that has to do with music and music practices are all members of PMAN.
The writer, the composers are being paid their royalties. This is why we started the fight and you understand why we suspended COSON because we said can we see how you collected our money and who you distributed it to and the reply was that we are kids, we are not supposed to ask that question. Now, MCSN reports to PMAN quarterly what has been collected, the letter they have written, who they have reached out to, who has paid, who hasn’t paid. That is the work of PMAN, that is what COSON is supposed to have been doing. Right now the collecting management organisations are the people that are supposed to educate musicians that you as a writer, or performer or composer, or producer, there is a particular percentage that is supposed to get to you from this royalty collection from this person or people. Now PMAN is bringing all the practitioners together and making sure that not only the musicians make money but the musicians DJ, producer, composer, writer, dancer, instrumentalists. When those dancers and instrumentalists make money from the needle time royalty but our CMOs will not educate them but rather collect the money and put in their pockets. So, you understand why I keep fighting with them. Everybody practising belonging to a band are supposed to be collecting royalty because monies are being collected to only the main performer.
These people are collecting needle time. The writer and composer share mechanical royalty of 50-50. If Burna Boy has a writer, composer, he shares 50 percent with that person or those people, he doesn’t take more than them. This is the law that they have been hiding from us and it is an international law. They know it. Now we are the ones that are basically educating these people. That is what we do every Friday. The younger ones do not even know the difference between mechanical royalty, performance royalty, needletime royalty and even the new age royalty which is the digital royalty. When you are trying to educate them, they keep telling you , they know more than you and that is why we keep having problems in our country. These boys are supposed to be making more than what they are making if these people that were there before us educated and created this structure for these younger ones.
After the death of your brother and partner, Junior, you stopped music, why?
At the time of Junior’s death, he left me with a family- three kids and a wife. I wasn’t married at that time. Managing to take care of the situation was when my mother advised me to get married. As at the time I got married, it was by force. My mother was like, you need to get married now and train the whole of them together. It has been difficult but thank God that they are done with school. The wife is doing well. I have a large family-my wife, juniors wife, my kid, junior’s kids and also because the woman refused to remarry. You cannot force her.
What happened was that I was left with a whole lot of challenges and I needed to refocus. Before Junior died, we were managing Benson and Hedges. We were managing Red 14. We were already shifting from becoming performing musicians to business marketing musicians to production, concert, equipment and all that. These were all we learnt while working with the international firm. After his death, I had to make a choice either to continue making albums or look after the business that we set. Because the business was young, I decided to look after it. After Junior’s death, I resigned from the Benson and Hedges, global activities merger. I was actually the regional director. I resigned and decided to do my own thing. I resigned not because I wasn’t making enough money but I wasn’t doing something that I can leave for the kids. A whole lot of them are musicians, doing what I am doing. I don’t want to leave a failed system or organisation for them. That is why I did not pay attention to the performance but I have been behind the stage making sure all the concerts were going on. I was running one of the biggest advertising, marketing agencies, I produced all of the biggest concerts. It was my stage, my light. That was what kept me going.
I was called upon because I was successful in my other business, that was why PMAN dragged me to come and solve the problem. At a time I was chasing them away. I didn’t want to get involved in it. My wife now called me one day and said, they have been calling you and you are refusing. You are the only one that can fix this union. I asked her, why am I the only one? She said because she knows my passion and drive and I know you can do it. This thing was told to me in 2013. My wife insisted. If everybody is getting surprised and congratulating me on our little achievements, she is not surprised because she knows my focus. If I want to get something done, no matter who stands between, I will get it done.
Is any of your kids taking after you?
First, the four of them are singing. My daughter plays the violin and she sings. My son plays the keyboard and raps. My second son sings, he doesn’t play keyboard but my last son sings, plays the drum and keyboard. I think that is also what generated the interest to make sure PMAN doesn’t fail because it would be a shame that we are looking at these younger ones and failing them. If my daughter decides to go into music professionally which I have started seeing, at a time she would ask, Daddy, couldn’t you guys fix your industry?
One of juniors kids raps like mad. Bobby raps like junior. The whole of them are my kids. I don’t have anything to gain from PMAN if you know my story but the struggle is for these young ones. I can make them comfortable but in generality, how do we leave the industry? Are we going to leave the industry that is battered, messed up? I am more of happy now because the trend of what I and Junior started, the Afro hip hop to the Afro beats has taken over the globe and PMAN has bounced back. We are now talking about award but the take out here is that the perception has changed, all the corporate bodies now want to work with PMAN
What is your projection for PMAN in the next 10 years?
I have my excos that would sit behind and walk through. I am only doing my part. PMAN is going to have a bigger structure than this even in Lagos that is going to house radio station, tv station, tv studio, music academy then music business academy. We have housing facilities for musicians. We are planning to build this same thing in the six geo political zones. We are creating music academies in the six geo political zones. We have it already in two zones, Lagos and Abuja. We have properties in these areas and we are getting developers to do the needful. One of the facilities we are already working on has a helipad. It is done already in Lagos and Abuja. The state governors have given PMAN portions of properties, so we are getting our partners to go and see and begin to develop the structures. We will be unveiling as the time comes. We are getting a whole lot of multinational investments including our technical and development partners.
Looking at where were are and where we are going to. I also give it to my excos. They stuck by me. These guys took it as it was part of their lives. If well structured, the Nigerian creative industry with music in focus, would generate over N16 trillion. Now a white man is saying what Afrobeat can generate. But this is what I have said years back. We generated the revenue ourselves to buy the edifice. No sponsor. We will generate more.
