Don't kill yourself, it's alright for Davido to buy songs from other artistes

The music industry is not original. It never is, never has been, never will be, and frankly I hope it never is. That’s because for all our idealistic obsession with what’s new and our clamor for originality, we give acceptance to the sounds we already know, while showing reluctance to influences drawn from unfamiliar territory.

Bring out your phone, and check the music that swells your personal playlist. There’s nothing revolutionary about it. There’s hardly any breaking sound, or distant influence that you enjoy. Everything looks a lot like what has been in existence, or a fusion of what you have heard.

Simply put, there’s very little technical originality that comes from music these days. But that’s on a wider level.

Honing home, artistes don’t always have to create the work that they record and release. There’s hardly any written rule that exists on paper that require them to do so.  But the fact that they are the performers of a song, people generally believe that they are the sole creators of the song, the lyrics and everything else.

Beyonce bought irreplaceable off Neyo, Rihanna’s ‘Diamond’ owes its originality to the songwriting skills of Sia. And the list goes on. Other artistes have had to use ghost writers to make music for them. The 2015 highlight beef between Drake and Meek Mill stemmed from the latter finding out a ghostwriter, Quentin Miller, was involved in their collaborative track, ‘RICO’. Kanye West recently had his bubble burst with Kid Cudi revealing the extent of his influence on Kanye’s past albums.

A stereotypical Nigerian artistes is a tremendously proud and narcissist human. We are exhibitionists who would hug the spotlight, and take credit for everything. When there are contributors to a product, a typical Nigerian act would rather limit the exposure given to the collaborators, go great lengths to erase any evidence of external contribution, and would claim every fiber of the product.

For Davido, there are limits to his artistry. The 24-year old singer is not exactly the Einstein of Nigerian music. Neither is he a master composer, and creator in the mold of Handel, Beethoven and others. He is just Davido, a gifted artiste with deep pockets to afford himself the service and resources that make him exceptional. He has a long history of ghostwriting and buying songs. 2015 hit song, ‘Aye’, is a good example. Industry sources say that he got the hit off Runtown, for a chance to have the artiste collaborate with him on ‘Gallardo’, another hit.

This year, his song ‘Gbagbe Oshi’ was bought for a princely sum, from forgotten man General Pype. According to sources, Pype who had performed the song, but failed to release it officially, then flogged it off to Davido for a fee in excess of N1 million. But the original track is now out in the open.

It’s normal. These things happen every day, and it is great business for everyone. Pype gets a lump sum paid to him, Davido gets a ready-made hit song to record and release. Business.

Davido committed no crime, neither did he wrong anyone. A transaction occurred, which involved the purchase of intellectual property, everyone went home, happy in the knowledge that value was evenly distributed.

It is normal, and everyone understands. There are limits to the creativity of a person. There are mental glass ceilings that you cannot push through in life. Inspiration is a fickle thing, and even me, the writer of this article had to pause twice to get a fresh angle for this piece. As artistes and creators of art, we are constantly pushing past the borders of our minds to create the next original stuff. And trust me, we don’t get it all of the time.

It is those times that we fail to connect to inspiration that we lean on others to assist in the art-making process. Most of the work I write is assisted by Osagie Alonge, Ayomide Tayo, and Steve Dede. Likewise the works from your favorite artistes. Most times, the relationship between the creator and the assistant creator is bound by financial rules. After all, the creativity that runs in your veins and offered to others need to generate value. But many times, the assistant creators are part of the artistes working team, who don’t get paid directly for their work, but are rewarded with various forms of help via association.

It is normal to not be creative. It is okay to have huge mental durations where you cannot hit the right note or lyric to create music. It is wise to lean on others for contributions. But ensure that due credit is given, and the world sees transparency in your creative process.

Be open, share the spotlight, and let everyone grow, basking in the glow of the great works that we come together to create.