His two signed acts  Mayorkun and Dremo have been revelations in Nigeria, with their initial releases announcing their talent, while also giving fans, the public, and industry analysts an opening initial yardstick into measuring the music depth of their careers.

There have been data-less projections, and ambitious reviews thrown the way of these folks from all over the industry, and one of them is the declaration made on "Facts Only" with Osagie Alonge, the famous Pulse TV show about the music industry and insights into the game.

Osagie Alonge logically put forward an argument that the ‘Eleko’ music video, the first project released by Mayorkun, which gathered a million views in 10 days was not organic. He opined that the video which is a debut project from an unknown singer, can never organically be viewed a million times in 10 days. He is correct.

It is unprecedented, and with the errant attention span and limited internet capability in the country a video will have to go viral with a gimmick or some special quality. ‘Eleko’ lacks all of this. It is simply a cool visual with all the hallmarks of a good spend. Nothing sticks out.

Money is definitely involved in helping out with the numbers, but perhaps not in the traditional way of ‘purchasing’ views. For a clear understanding of how views are bought, with a good example read this article, and link it up with Tilla’s video for ‘Oni Reason’. That visual has all the hallmarks of a bought-views campaign.

For Mayorkun, and according to sources in their camp, the purchase of views went a different route. The one distinctively referred to in the tech world as digital marketing. According to investigations carried out by Pulse, aggressive and expensive targeted digital marketing campaigns were executed for the video in its first seven days. The same way a brand sells a commodity online via Facebook ads, Google ads, and many other channels, ‘Eleko’ video was advertised too.

With the advance and reduction in price of digital technology in Nigeria, the internet has created a seismic shift in the music industry. Traditional physical marketing outlets, while still important, have been augmented with a variety of online-based marketing, sales, and distribution outlets, all of which require their own specific marketing approaches and strategies. These are just beginning to redefine the way content is targeted and marketed. Many labels are reacting to this via:

With all of these currently in play, the days of organic viewership are slowly moving to its end. A clear example of this is Mavin Records, who have essentially set up this system in marketing their music videos online. Via these methods, they were also able to effectively campaign for votes for Reekado Banks, which led him to victory at the 2015 Headies.

We have come a long way. The music industry has gone from the days of public payola to marketing of albums that haven’t even been recorded. Social networking, crowdfunding, digital distribution, music streaming services, mobile technology, and affordable recording equipment has put the power of music in the hands of the people. This has allowed artists to take their careers into their own hands and allows fans to enjoy their music more affordably. It has also allowed labels with funding to set up digital marketing arms, or also engage the services of Digital Marketing firms to run campaigns on either the artiste, a specific content or both. For DMW, ‘Eleko’ video is the start of a new era.

The music industry is built on perception and public ideals, with many fans being sold on the ideal way of execution. The problem is, the new rules have changed the game, and to stay stagnant is to fall behind. DMW spent money on getting those views, but instead of channeling it to Youtube-views booster sites, they said they went the route of digital marketing.

That’s how they intend to sell it. But the fact remains money changed hands, and the views from ‘Eleko’ video soared. That in itself is purchase, no matter the name or the methodology.