Olajide Siwoku is the prime mover of Black Carpet Production, a media and Record Label outfit. Jide as the cool dude is usually referred to have been behind the scene for over two decades managing and also promoting artiste. Without exaggerating, he has contributed immensely to the growth and development of Nigerian Entertainment industry. In this interview WITH ISAAC OGUNTOYE, the industry big boy spoke on his business, the challenges in the industry and his new artiste, Jayson.
Excerpt…
For the purpose of those who are yet to know you, tell us little about you?
My name is Olajide Siwoku, I’m the Managing Director, Black Carpet Production. And the reason why many people don’t know me is because i like to be free. Though, sometimes being at the forefront is good while it is also better to be behind the scene. They both have their advantages but as for me, I prefer to stay back and allow my work to speak for me.
What is Black Carpet all about?
Black Carpet is an outfit that comprises of both Radio, Television and also a Record Label. Basically, what we do is putting creativity together. It’s all about talent and gift and creativity from a general angle.
When you mention Black Carpet, the first thing that comes to your mind is event and all that, why Black Carpet?
What we are trying to say is that, we’re always loyal which the reason we say Black Carpet is. You know black blends with every other colour. If you say Red, it could be selective but black blends. We want to mix with the industry and one way or the other we want to show the industry that we are relevant.
So, what is Black Carpet working on at the moment?
We have a project and we have our artiste, Jayson that just dropped a song featuring Runtown and the song is title, Subscribe. And we are believing God that everything should work as planned. It is a process, we will never take over the industry but we’re going to be relevant.
What measure have you put in place to make sure the company overcome the challenges the industry is saddled with?
You know the Bible says if you want to build a house you weigh the cost. We’ve weighed the cost and like I said, we are not for today, we are for tomorrow. The thing is, it is a process. A lot of people are looking to be the A-list artistes while the B artistes is where the market is. We are just taking our time. The two companies that came into Nigeria based on telecommunication took their time to be who they are today. So, that is what we are doing. We are not saying we are here to take over, No! I have never seen anybody who will take over the industry. We just want to be relevant. It is a process for us, trust us, we are not one-of. Our foundation is still on God.
What does it mean to be an artiste manager or record label?
To be sincere with you, we don’t have record labels in Nigeria. Record labels are higher levels if we are talking about American standard. We just have promoters. What most people do is promote talent and create tours for you. You never even drop one song, they provide you with everything you needed. For me I just spot talent, if I see you are really gifted, it is not about the finance, it is the gift you have inside of you. Even the Bible says the gift of man maketh way for him. When you have gift, we run after you. Some people run after money but the point is, once you have the money and no gift, nothing really happens.
There is no business without its own challenge, can you share some of the challenges?
You see, one of the greatest challenges first of all I want to say to anyone is the artistes going into the studio to bring out something. That I consider the greatest challenge because that part you can’t see. I can sing in the bathroom and come to you but the greatest challenge is me going into the studio and making sense. It’s been a long journey, we are just growing and I believe it’s also a process. But the most important things is being focused because if we look at the challenges, we won’t get to where we are. It is like going to the Island and you meet hold up on third mainland, does that mean you quit. We’ve experience certain things but we thank God that in all of this, it makes us stronger because we’ve been in the industry for long. I’ve stand by people, followed industry top-notch and also raise some artistes who are famous today.
Looking at the Nigerian entertainment industry, what do you think needs to be done differently, what do we need to change?
Because we are all growing in every aspect. Not just only in the music. Every aspect of the industry is growing and civilisation is taking its place. Look at the movies we have today now, we find out that when we go to the cinemas, our movies trend more. We are all growing. What I will just say is we should keep running because we have not done anything yet. We are not doing badly.
Who do you think can handle the artiste’s management, one with experience or one with cash?
You see they all join because you might have the experience but where is the funding coming from. Many people use experience to get funding. For instance, just like a student who is academically sound but need somebody that will buy him or her lunch. Because that is how the practice is. It boils down to every other fields in the industry. There are lot of Investors. The thing is just being focused on what you are doing and upgrade yourself. You will attract some kind of people because even the investors with cash will look you before dropping cash. If you dey ask, I will say, you need both. The head also needs the pocket. If I have head without pocket, what is the point? You know how it is in the industry today without the pocket the head won’t make sense. We all need each other.
What measure have you put in place in terms of fighting piracy?
There are somethings you can’t stop. Once you start impacting into people you can pass your message. Stop trying to stop what has been there before. I know so many artistes who started with R&B but today, they don’t do serious R&B again instead, they sing different genre of music because that is what the market wants. When you get into the market if you get to a certain level, you can decide to defer. You have to do what the market wants first. Then when you gain the market, if you don’t like it, then you can go back to your style. In respect of piracy, we’re praying to survive it. We can’t stop them but we hope it work in our favour. What the pirates are doing is a disadvantage to us but we hope we survived it.
Any corporate organisation you are working with?
Jayson is Winners Golden Bet ambassador. So, Winners Golden Bet is one the corporate organization we are working with for now.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.