Nigerian pop musicians who will grow brand in 2020

The Nigerian brand of music is on the first burner in Africa, and is making impact at the global level, courtesy of the leading lights in the Nigerian music scene.

The industry made a roaring success in 2019, with many of the musicians finishing the year strong, and setting the pace for year 2020.

There is no perfect marriage anywhere – Actor Odunlade

Top acts like Davido, Wizkid, DBanj, Zlaten, 2Face and others blazed through year 2019 and kept the fire burning, moving from one success level to another.

They practically held the year by the storm, proving their mettle in all departments of music – composition, rendition, production, post-production, stage craft, audience mobilization and all.

These are musicians who have evolved from band groups into notable brands. They come with all the full elements of a successful brand.

They have clear identity, positioning, personality, differentiation and are articulate in their communication engagements with the audience. They have moved from being anonymous, or being commodities, to becoming iconic export brands and market leaders. They are digital and are on top of their games.

They command loyalty and passion from fans and followers, who are running into millions of people, locally and globally. Like truly great brands, these musician brands have a history of evolution, market acceptability, consistency, growth, and on the go creativity and adaptability. They have overtime built equity and acquired market values far beyond the ordinary.

The success of their brand equity has given them room to charge for performance fees in millions of naira, and to also earn lucrative endorsement deals from top brands both locally and internationally. They held the court of music down through the preceding year. With their level of success last year, and with the manner some of them have opened this year, these musicians are expected to continue blazing the trail in the current year.

Today, we look at two of these musician brands.

Davido

The Davido brand bestrides the pop music market like a colossus. Davido is a brand that has kept growing and will keep at it in the current year, from all indications. The brand is personified by David Adeleke, talented, flamboyant, wealthy, successful, youthful and socially active. With a track record of crowd moving performances, chart bursting releases, collaboration with some of the best artists locally and internationally achieved last year, this brand promises to make a good impression in 2020.

Adeleke, the face of the brand is not only gifted musically, he is a master at creating news stunts. The effect is that the brand is constantly being promoted in and out of the dance hall, receiving a lavish of unpaid for publicity. This is one of the reasons the brand will rank as one of the most easily recalled musician brands in Nigeria in 2019.

Riding the power of his music and energy, Adeleke’s music and stunts have permanently kept the brand in the face of the people, nay, in the mind of the people. Adeleke moves from hit song to hit song, lives large and has a community of fans that simply cannot have enough of him. He goes routinely on local and international tours. His shows are usually packed full home and away. The goodwill is breaming.

Reports say that some of his hit singles including the tracks IF and FALL crossed over sixty million views on YouTube. Since shooting into limelight in 2011 with the release of the hit single “Dami Duro” which became an instant hit, Davido has gone ahead releasing more hit songs, over the years, including hits like “Omo Baba Olowo, Gobe, One of a Kind, Skelewu and Aye.” He has also endorsed or partnered top Nigerian brands like the MTN and Guiness in promotional outings.

There is no reason to expect less from Davido in 2020.

Wizkid

This is another hugely successful musician brand expected to keep growing in value in 2020. The brand, personified by Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, has serially moved the music market in Nigeria to new levels and contributed in taking it to continental and global acclaim. Talented, urbane, international, stylish, and a master-of-show-business, Wizkid is a brand known and accepted across the Nigerian space for its uniqueness and top-of-the-shelf positioning.

Balogun has built the brand to the level of controlling millions of fans and followers, continentally and globally. His achievements are enormous, including routinely topping musical charts and earning Grammy Award nomination, among several feats. Wizkid has always been known for hit songs after hit songs. Wizkid is currently the most streamed African artist on Spotify and he is a huge African export brand.

Since shooting to limelight in 2011, with the release of the song “Holla at Your Boy, Wizkid has not looked back. In 2016, he attained international recognition when he collaborated with Drake on the global hit “One Dance,” which attained number one in 15 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.In 2012, Wizkid signed a one-year endorsement deal with Pepsi reportedly worth 350 US Dollars, as a result of which he travelled to Beirut, Lebanon for a Pepsi commercial shoot.

Reports say in 2014, he became the first ever Nigerian musician to have over one million followers on Twitter. He was also the first Afrobeat artist to appear in the 2018 Guiness World Book of Records for his contribution to Drakes’s hit song, “One Dance.”

Like the Davido brand, there is no reason to expect less from Wizkid in 2020.

(Analysis to be concluded next week)