Veteran Nigerian singer, Dbanj, has averred that music alone is not enough to sustain the luxurious lifestyle that Nigerian musicians love to live.
The koko master stated this in a recent interview with PremiumTimes. He noted that international stars like JayZ, Kanye West, and others have other businesses that serve as other sources of income for them to afford to live luxurious lives.
In his words,
“It’s my sixth year in marriage, and ever since then, I’ve looked for different platforms that would keep my fame and family intact. So if you were to Google Jay Z or the wealthiest musicians in the world, you would see that only 10 per cent of their wealth is probably from music.”
When asked if music is secondary for him, he said,
“No. I’m just trying to say that if you look at Kanye as a billionaire, Jay Z is a billionaire, and maybe he got like 100 million from music. The rest are from business and that is what Nigeria needs.
I was telling someone we need such a structure and the right merchandise. And then, of course, you can always make music. Music will forever be in me; I’m always going to release music.
Sometimes my people say you don’t release music, but I attend shows, and when I do, they give me one hour to perform. I can’t even perform all my songs in one hour. I cannot, even for three hours myself, but what can you do to give people to look up to.
We grew up not having anybody to look up to, but now the industry has us to look up to. These young crops of Nigerian musicians have so many role models. That’s why we can tell them that ‘if you are at your prime, it’s high time you stopped doing stuff that you get paid peanuts for, you can partner with a brand that gives you a room where you can even begin to sponsor the next Nigeria Idol or Big Brother.”
When further asked if music is not as profitable, he replied,
“No, I won’t say that music is not as profitable, but music alone is not enough to attain that luxury lifestyle that musicians love.”.
