Orezi: Nigerian Artistes Don’t Make Money from Albums

In an interview with Punch Newspaper, rising  Nigerian pop sensation Orezi discussed his steady rise in the music industry, how it is very political and the botched deal with Davido.

The “Rihanna” singer revealed why he is in no worry to release an album yet, “In Nigeria, artistes do not make money from albums. This is due to the fact that it involves making arrangement with marketers for a pay-off or percentage of proceeds from the album sales. Most Nigerian artistes usually settle for a pay off that may not exceed N5m at most.

An album costs more than N5m to produce. But albums increase acceptance, popularity and fan base, which is where the money comes from.

Some people always take sides with certain artistes because they are their favourites. Whatever it is that the other artiste does or merits, he or she will not get it because he or she isn’t favoured. Politics is big and killing the Nigerian music industry.” he said.

And on not signing the deal with Davido, Orezi said that, “It was not favorable to me at the time. We decided not to do it at the time because we were both neck-deep in our careers.It was not perfect at that time. Davido was on tour and I was doing my own thing and had other offers I thought was better. I have no regrets about not signing on to Davido’s label. We are friends and not rivals. I don’t see anyone as a competition or a rival. I wake up every morning thinking of how I can be number one.”