Treat Nigerian artists as business brands, and you will get great live performances

This saddens me to write. I am always of the belief that live performances are sacred, and should never be treated as a business agreement between a Nigerian artist and their fans.

But it appears I have been wrong about live performances by Nigerian artists. This past weekend, the One Africa Music Fest concert held in London. And due to a number of bad decisions and time wasting, the general report about the concert have not been good. You can read about that here.

Away from poor time management, one of the most recurrent complaints was the poor quality of live performances by the biggest Nigerian artists. People ripped into their favorite stars because, they put in horrible performances, and did nothing to elevate the experience of watching them live. Many of these artists lip-synced and hyped their way through the records. The best ones, threw in a little miming, took their money and rode into the sunset.

How painful.

This inspires the question: What do we want from our artistes? We pay for their music, and attend their concerts but do they also owe us something?

Just like everything else that involves a transaction, as soon as our money goes towards a product, we feel like we own a part of it. In the case of concerts, after the money has been deposited, the dates have been fixed, the calendars have been cleared, and everyone is set for a good time, the connection between Wizkid and his fans become commercial. Just like fans in Uganda would have felt, once you pay for the product, the artiste is under obligation to deliver for you.

But another view which considers the power of music exists. The musical experience cannot be simplified to just another commercial transaction. It is emotional. Whether it is the pop razzmatazz of Wizkid or the ethereal sensory intercourse of Asa, the performance is something experiential and essentially intangible.

The problem happens when the artiste fails to deliver due to illnesses, or when it is below par or the artiste doesn’t play to the script and leaves fans dissatisfied, it does feel more like a betrayal, a sacred promise broken, and a cosmic law which has been flouted. It feels painful.

Attending the best concerts, you feel like a higher level of trust has been established in the hall, with the audience and the artiste feeding off each other to lift themselves. When this is broken, there is no worse feeling.

For Nigerians, that promise is always broken. It is a rarity to experience a holistic, mind-blowing, toe-curling performance by Nigerian artist. It’s always a disappointment watching these people pull up the same routine every time. The only exceptions are Asa, Brymo, Bez, Flavour, Psquare, Waje, Tiwa Savage, Omawumi, Yemi Alade and a few others. The rest show up, put in the barest minimum and move.

This is because many Nigerians are not artists. They are simply hustlers; businessmen who are more concerned about increasing profit by cutting costs to the barest minimum. Artistry is a myth to this people. They take no pride in it, hence they only lean on their bank account balances as a validation of their work.

These people take no pride in performing. They simply have found the sweet spot where they can do the barest minimum, which would cost them nothing. They treat the emotions and expectation of the fans as an avenue to make money. Everything else is abstract.

And the Nigerian society helps them get away with it. The artists understand that a huge amount of Nigerians who attend these concerts have not experienced better. They are simply just happy to experience their favorite artist on stage. So the performers take advantage, and deliver horrible performances.

Combine this mentality and the entitlement of our stars, and you would see why we have a system that perpetuates mediocrity. One very popular artist once exclaimed that the fans should be happy to even see them in person.

How sad.

The only solution to this is for fans to view these artist as businesses who have promised to provide a service. When the service is of substandard quality, they should give the negative feedback. Call out these artists as you would a bank or a telecommunication firm. Create enough negative PR to convince promoters to not book these acts. If that happens, the artists’ business will be affected, and they will be forced to make changes by improving the quality of their service.

These artists treat their live performances like a business. They too should be treated as service providers and forced to create great standards of service. Only then can we move forward.