VIDEO: Efe Ogbeni x Joel Katz talk about Global Impact of African Music

Joel Katz interviewing Efe Ogbeni on the growth of African Music at MIDEM

In a recent video interview at the Midem conference, Davido's longtime Manager and industry veteran, Efe Ogbeni, talks extensively about the growth and impact of African music in the world.

This interview, moderated by A-List music lawyer Joel Katz in the Worldwide Village was focused on the impact of African culture & music around the world.

Efe Ogbeni spoke in detail, revealing what people refer to as his secret but to him shouldn't be, because he implied that transparency is how the industry can grow.

Efe spoke about how social media is helping African music gain grounds in other parts of the world and how a lack of structure is affecting what artists are making from their creative work.

According to Efe Ogbeni, unlike the American government, the Nigerian government is presently more concerned about electricity and security than they are about protecting the rights of creatives. For that purpose, creatives have to put necessary structures in place to ensure they're protected and benefit from their works and also ensure other creatives are not being ripped off or cheated.

Read an excerpt from the interview below;

Myself and some of my close friends understand that contracts are meant to be honored. and there is no template for the African community when it comes to entertainment law. It needs to be built; that is an African template. Not a Uk template or American template.

When you have people that create music and pro-creative people. If you write a record if you producer a record you need to have your rights to the record. I don't care if the record is playing a commercial in Lagos or Johannesburg...

The norm is, except maybe for one or two countries, the norm is, you come as a producer, you produce a record, you get paid a one time fee and that's it, no rights... for me I always say Nah, wait a minute, you don't want anything? Na... get your fees, get your publishing, get your lawyer, do your paperwork because you never know which record is gonna hit. Because I don't want amnesia later, where you come and say "oh I don't remember signing paperwork" coz you spent the money...

So that's how I feel when I went to Big John, the head of Sony ATV, I said listen if my clients are gonna come to you,m the producers have to be protected... and that's what happened with Shizzi, Spellz, and Kiddominant. They signed directly to America which is the first time it's been done from Lagos ..."

"It's gonna take time but for now, the creators of the industry, the lawyers, management, those people need to protect the industry and fight for the creative talent and that's how monetizing it will be. It will never be monetized in Africa for now, eventually, it will, but it'll upstream to the rest of the world. 

Watch the video which includes his template for artistes like Tiwa Savage and Davido;