Q21 Solutions, an event management organisation in Nigeria, is set to host its second annual Alté Cultural Festival. It aims to promote and give a platform to artists of the ‘alté’ culture as well as empower participants on how to monetise their talents as content creators.
The event, slated for April 8 at Muri Okunola, will feature alté artists such as BOJ, ShowDemCamp and Aylø and is organised in partnership with YouTube, Xbox, Universal Music, Sony, Trace TV, and MTV Base to help scale music artists and alté content creators.
Eunice Adeyemi, creative director of Q21 Solutions, told BusinessDay that they want their guests to experience something different not just in the performances but also the engagement.
“Xbox ewho has come to partner with us are not just for the console but for the developers. They are looking for people who develop games and this information is unknown to the vast majority of the gaming community in Nigeria. But when they come for the festival, they have an opportunity to link up with Xbox, sign up to them and advance their career in programming without Q21 getting involved in the process,” Adeyemi said.
According to her, the alté culture is not just about the music but also about people with a generally unique and alternative style.
She said those who produce content about various facets of alté culture are also content creators, adding that attending the event would expose them to the possibility of monetising their talents by uploading content on platforms like YouTube Shorts.
According to Adeyemi, a typical YouTube content creator makes an average of $5,000 to $10,000 a month for posting on the platform at least three times per week.
“Just about 130 Nigerians are already making money using the platform, and with YouTube in attendance, content creators have the chance to learn how to monetise their talents,” she said.
“The subculture is gaining popularity not only in the Nigerian market but also internationally,” Adeyemi said when asked about the development of the alté genre and what it took to secure major sponsors to organise a festival for a subculture trend in Nigeria.
She said the first Alte Culture Festival attracted more than 1,500 attendees, adding that this year, Q21 Solutions has sold more than 2,200 seats through online ticketing partners Tix Africa.
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She is optimistic that over the next five years, Alte Culture Festival would increase the value chain of the Nigerian music business generally and produce as many ticket sales as conventional Afrobeats shows.
“Technology has arrived to upend the existing quo,” Adeyemi said. “Players in the event industry must change as people’s tastes do.”
According to her, event planners in Nigeria need to begin considering how artificial intelligence may be optimised to produce virtual concerts on virtual reality platforms in order to reduce the strain, stress, and exhaustion that paying audience members encounter when attending physical concerts.
The inaugural Alte Culture Festival was used as a platform to highlight innovative thinkers who were shaping the subculture, and it appears that this year’s edition will be no different.
Adeyemi said she wanted the performer to be known as a musical artist both locally and internationally. “As a music artist coming in, there is a platform for you so that people can find you from that space. That’s why we have the likes of Universal Music, Trace, Sony, and MTV Base to come and partner with us. And so if you are a musical artist, you can get the attention you need from a space like this,” she said.
