Determined to create opportunities for upcoming artists without record labels, Epiphany Music Content, a Nigerian company that is into music promotion and distribution, has launched Indie Innovate, a musical concept that will enable upcoming artists get funds.
Olayinka Sobola, founder/CEO of Epiphany Music Content, says at a recent media launch of Indie Innovate that the project aims at bringing so many artists from being nobody to the limelight, which is the motto of Indie Innovate.
According to Sobola, the company has observed that the major bane of upcoming artists in Nigeria is funding and that is why Indie Innovate intends to get crowdfunding for Nigerian artists.
“Experience has shown that artists are always bedevilled by lack of funds. This makes it impossible for them to get quality production and promotion for their music in order to get to the limelight. So, we came up with Indie, which means independent artists that has no record label and Innovate that means innovation.
“Indie Innovate is our own way of reaching out to the stars on the street because over 90 percent of artists all over the world are unknown. While about 5 percent are on the mainstream, only about 1 percent is superstars that we know today,” he explains.
To participate, he says, interested artists can go to the website www.epiphanymusic.com.ng to register, submit their songs, fill in their details after which, the artist would then get his or her family, friends, community to vote for him or her. He said the artists can also ask the community to donate funds for them because it is expected that the donation from crowdfunding will help push their music career.
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Sobola notes that 10 artists with the highest votes will be selected and separately crowd-funded by the company’s partners.
The process is open to all genres of music including afrobeat, hip hop, gospel among others, he says, adding that the participation is restricted to only Nigerian artists but there is a plan to expand to other climes in the future.
“Once you are talented and you are sure of yourself, get on the platform and submit your entry. The process of voting and final selection will be transparent, and will also be subjected to audit by an audit firm at the end. Part of the package for the finalists include music tours, getting them the best producers, giving them media exposure and the best marketing outlet to sell their music,” he states.
Sobola, who discloses that Epiphany has a sister company tha, distributes music to more than 50 platforms, says he has been privileged to meet so many independent artists who complain of no management, no money, no support, and no motivation to achieve their dreams.
“In Nigerian music space today, we have realised that afrobeat is taking over the world as top Nigeria artists are taking the lead to put Nigeria on the world map. These top Nigeria artists took an afrobeat from Fela Kuti and made it so popular and big beyond what we can imagine,” he says.
The submission of entries is expected to last throughout this December while voting is expected to commence in January.
