Why Wizkid and Wande Coal Took Loan for Their Music Career - Sony Music MD, Godwin Tom

On the latest episode of Big Conversation, a podcast show where different creatives from different parts of Africa, come together to talk about the entertainment industry and more, the MD of Sony Music Publishing Nigeria, Godwin Tom, opened up about how financing is done in Nigeria and the realities of artiste funding in Nigeria. Here is how the conversation came up and what Godwin Tom said.

**Before reading on, please make sure to like and follow my Facebook page (Jide Okonjo) so you don't miss out on any new and interesting lists, articles, and stories that I post every single day. I have a really fun page. If you like my page, you will have fun too. So what's stopping you? Like my page and let's have fun together!

The conversation happened during a conversation where other Africans on the podcast said that money is readily available to Nigerian artistes, and that the government is who funds them. According to them, "On the funding situation, financing, money into the business, it's clear that a lot of money is readily available to Nigerian talents, especially in the development phase. We saw the former president Goodluck Jonathan give the Nollywood industry some kind of money?" Godwin Tom then jumped in and said:

GODWIN TOM: Sorry, so I can't speak on that because I do not know what the terms were. What I can speak on is that people put their own money in. So I will give you an example. I know for example that Wiz took a loan at some point for his career. Yes. That he believed himself and bet on himself and said "look, I don't have money o". Wande Coal did the same thing. So when you look at the different artistes, what you see are - I mean, I will give you an example. If a Nigerian artiste hears, HEARS, that his song is number one in Accra, he's showing up the next day. He's gonna show up the next day. He's just gonna travel here, he's gonna borrow the money if he has to. He's gonna come do radio interviews, he's gonna come find who he needs to talk to, he's gonna come in and figure out how he can capitalize on that attention. He will do some club appearances, he will make some money. He could enter this country with a hundred dollars and leave with 20k. That's pretty much what happens. So what you see is not necessarily - what government supposed do is not even give you money to be honest - because even if government gives you money, they have to make it back. What the government is meant to do at its core is create an environment where it's easy for you to put your money in. So right now, we're building that, the government is building that. What we need to do is look at what the individuals are doing within the system. There are people putting in a lot of their money.

It is so interesting that some people really believe that artistes' careers are heavily funded by the government and that musicians are just swimming in cash. Hmm, if na like that, every musical artiste supposed don blow by now na? What do you think about the people's thinking about Nigerian artstes, and what do you think about what Godwin Tom said? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment either below or on my Jide Okonjo Facebook post.

That's All.

I hope you’ve had fun. Don’t forget to follow my page (Jide Okonjo) if you don’t already for more stories like this, the fun never ends

To catch up on other content you might have missed, click here.

Until next time, have a wonderful rest of your day.