4 reasons why Nigerian artists have released a lot of song teasers this year

Since January 1, 2022, a cursory examination of HipTV’s Instagram page on any given day will produce at least two teasers of new songs. For HipTV, that could create a whole new opportunity cycle. But importantly, the sheer amount of teasers and silent videos we have seen since the turn of the year, represents the current reality of Nigerian music.

The most intense user of this strategy is Buju. Since the turn of the year, he has released teasers almost every three days.

ALSO READ: Buju's use of Twitter: Yay or Nay?

A lot of it is down to these four reasons;

1.) The current direction of the music business: In 2020, Pulse Nigeria had a conversation with superstar rapper, Reminisce. During the conversation, he noted that he took a break from music to understand the new reality around streaming, marketing, social media, the internet, and roll-outs. A year prior, this writer penned a piece about the change in music strategy. 59% of Nigeria is under 19 years old. Most of them are on social media.

Around 21% of the country uses Instagram, while a fast-rising 8% uses TikTok.

It’s likely that the paying demography of listeners are also literate enough to use social media in an interactive way. These days, a lot of things are competing for the listener’s attention and TikTok means that songs now have shorter life spans in a space that’s constantly saturated with music releases.

As much as fans don’t exactly have a short attention span as previously believed, they still have solely focused on things they consider profitable or important or money, clout, relationship or whatever else. However, teasers are part of the attention business. They;

Keep the artist in attention rotation through visibility.
They make fans feel like a core part of a creative process, which gets them invested and;
They serve as part of roll-out for an album or song.

2.) Social has become the most internet-based marketing tool while radio still owns the offline. What teasers do is set up the groundwork before anything is even done.

3.) More importantly, artists can also teaser users to know what to release and what to retain, in a world where rules, templates and models are fast becoming extinct. Artists and labels have to be inventive. Some weeks ago, Atlantic Records used a TikTok strategy to aid its new release, but faking the creative process.

4.) Teasers give artists mileage and engagement, in a world where pitching for brand deals needs those numbers.