Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
The Nigerian music industry has seen remarkable shifts over the years, evolving with each new generation since its inception. Seyi Vibez, like other trailblazers before him, is a testament to this evolution. Just like in any other country, different eras have been defined by pioneers who have shaped the soundscape of the time. Afrobeats, in particular, has been a dynamic force, with fresh talents consistently rising to the forefront and ushering in new epochs in the industry.
From 2004 to 2008, artists like 2Baba (formerly known as 2Face Idibia), P-Square, and D’banj were already taking over the mainstream entertainment industry. The years 2008 to 2010 saw artists like Banky W, M.I, and Wande Coal making headlines. From 2012 to 2018, it was Wizkid, Davido, and Olamide (often referred to as the Big 3) paving the way for the next generation of artists until Burna Boy took off in 2018 and continues to be a dominant force today.
Nevertheless, between these years, there have been artists who were initially considered underdogs but skyrocketed to the top alongside the established stars. With the help of technology and the rise of social networks, the possibility of a hit-maker is more likely, leading to the constant creation of new songs and expanding the industry’s reach.
Navigating the Music Release Frenzy: The Inclusion of the Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs)
In fact, the applications such as TikTok for social media and the Apple Music and Spotify for streaming are attributed to several artists’ hits. It has resulted in many artists fighting for the number one spots on charts and goals and onwards getting streams while giving credence to the idea that seemingly music release is only for this purpose.
However, the existing breakthrough of not only the digital music streaming but also distribution and publishing are the key to the globalisation of Afrobeats. Last year the most popular and the most streamed artists were Burna Boy and Davido among many others; Asake leading the pack with over 600 million streams globally. His close rival Seyi Vibez was trailing behind him with streams of over 500 million. This is because he had various releases of projects in the year.
But it appears the street-pop act is not ready to leave the charts any time soon as he is sure going to offer his rivals a good chase.
The Seyi Vibez Approach
He was in the industry before his breakout song in 2021, “Godsent” from the album “No Seyi, No Vibez (NSNV)”. Seyi Vibez has had a spiral growth since, propelling him to stardom with the release of projects, “Billion Dollar Baby” in October 2022, and “Billion Dollar Baby 2.0” in December 2022.
While the latter album encompasses few songs from the former, the release of these projects lead to a meteoric rise for the said artiste with hit songs like “Chance (Na Ham)”. “Bullion Van”, “+234”, “Bank of America”, garnering millions of streams. “Chance (Na Ham)” debuted at number 19 on the UK Afrobeats singles chart and peaked at number 7 on the TurnTable Top 100 chart. The track also earned him the award for Best Street-Hop Artiste at the 16th Headies Award.
Usually, when an artist drops a project, a time frame is considered to allow the songs to marinate and give room for listeners to consume them. But this doesn’t seem to be the case for Loseyi, as he released an Extended Play (EP), “Memory Card” in January 2023. Barely a month since the previous release. As if that wasn’t enough, he further dropped two Long Projects (LP) namely “Vibe Till Thy Kingdom” and “Thy Kingdom Come”, which dropped on June 8 and June 23. Within a space of about two weeks.
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Whether or not his drive is fueled by passion or a specific goal, it did work for him. He ended 2023 with the release of another EP, “NAHAMciaga”, averaging a project every two months since October 2022. The critically acclaimed EP brought him hit songs like “Different Patterns.” All these Seyi did while maintaining decisive collaborations throughout the year.
However, close to seven months down the line from the last December 2023 drop, it yields to “Loseyi Professor”, a 7-hooked cassette. Actually, he mentioned seven projects within 21 months; however, it should be said that the company aimed at developing Project Management Office in the meantime. Arguably an unprecedented feat. However, one can also argue that major to Seyi’s success, the fact that he consistently puts out an array of tracks at a high frequency further can also be regarded as a downside, where the music is too similar in sounds and patterns, the repetitive patterns may ultimately cause the artiste’s music to crash. This could be perhaps because his allegiance is with Dvpper Digital: an online music distribution company as well as a record label.
However, this strategy of back to back music release is not exactly novel as it has been attempted before.
YBNL artistes like Asake, for instance, is a notable mention. After his breakthrough song “Omo Ope”, Asake consistently churned out projects, from his debut album “Mr. Money With The Vibe” which dropped in 2022, amassing millions of streams, and achievements. Having secured two notable collaborations in the previous year, the genre-blending artiste opened 2023 with “Yoga” in January, which followed up with “2:30” and “Amapiano” featuring label boss, Olamide. Thereafter, he released his sophomore album, “Work Of Art.”.
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All these projects within six months. At the time, critics also debated his consistent releases which carried repetitive elements of sounds, and argued that the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns might catch up with him sooner than later. But the Afrobeats artiste wants to maintain his core sound.
Perhaps Asake learned this so-called strategy from his label boss, who in his earlier days incessantly dropped songs to a degree. For instance, before he released “Eyan Mayweather” in November 2015, (a sequel to 2 Kings), songs like “Bobo”, “Melo Melo”, “Lagos Boys” and “Matters Arising” were released in a space of five months.
The Future of Music Releases
And so while this technique of music releasing isn’t entirely new, some artists have been found to explore it. And some are taking it a step further.
With the owned record label by Seyi Vibez, Vibez Inc. providing recording projects for their artistes. Aside from the Vibez. In May, this year, incorporation mixtape vol 1 was released, Muyeez released two EPs in May and another one in June. Two projects by TML Vibez came out in June; two projects by Billion Solar came out in June and July.
Not leaving Nerryckole, who released two Ep’s in July. There seems to be no definitive explanation as to why Stegele is not on the EPs, which dropped in July, but Nerryckole is not to be left behind. Leaving no room for one’s contemporaries to catch up, all the same, the music industry is too broad for one or a few artists to tame. Maybe this is an artistic endeavour which Dvpper Digital applied in an attempt to replicate comparable performances as they did with Seyi Vibez. Or is this part of Seyi’s daring legacy that has been propagated to the signees.
That doesn’t seem like music, or at the very least, isn’t this constant release of music a nocuous attempt at music? As sentiments are beginning to spring up the album looks monotonous given that songs on ‘Loseyi Professor’ share a similar pattern. However, he is more successful than that and now is the most streamed artist within the first half of the year 2024. This may well be his best vision, the music and chart always on top.
But will Seyi Vibez and his boys continue to milk this strategy? Or will the law of diminishing marginal return take effect? And will other artists employ this creative approach? This is one only time can ascertain.
Credit: the49thstreet