Nigerian singer Ruger in Juba ahead of Saturday’s show
Nigerian Afrobeat star Ruger has jetted into Juba ahead of his Saturday show. The artist, whose real name is Michael Adebayo Olayinka, will perform at Nyakuron Cultural Centre. Addressing the media upon his arrival at Juba International Airport, the Nigerian superstar promised a surprise package for South Sudanese fans who would attend the show on October 15, 2022. “I am happy to be in South Sudan for the first time. As part of my job, it is great for me because meeting new people every day has empowered me a lot, so I really love to meet my fans here.” “It has been my dream to come and meet with South Sudanese [people]. I already have surprise package for South Sudanese fans; only get ready for the show,” the 23-year-old singer said. He added, “Let us get ready for the ‘girlfriend dance.’ This is going to be one of the top shows of the year in the country. “ Ruger is known for hit songs like Dior, Bounce, Snapchat, and Pandemic among others. The show will also involve many other South Sudanese musicians who will perform at the event. They include Silver X, Nita Baby, Tea Manager, Ann Brava, Marry Boyoyo, Mavi Daban, Tusymo, Camadian Ringo, and Comedian Wakilly among others. Contact Us For Your Music Promotion
Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough Tops The U.S Single Chart In 1979
On this day, 13 October 1979, Micheal Jackson’s song Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough, was on top of the U.S Single Chart; This was his second U.S solo Number 1. So click to enjoy the song on this throwback Thursday. Contact Us Your Music Promotions
Rapper Coolio “Gangsta’s Paradise” Dies At 59
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (August 1, 1963 – September 28, 2022), known professionally as Coolio, was an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Coolio achieved mainstream success in the mid-to-late 1990s with his albums It Takes a Thief (1994), Gangsta’s Paradise (1995), and My Soul (1997). Coolio best known for his 1995 Grammy Award-winning hit single “Gangsta’s Paradise” as well as other singles “Fantastic Voyage” (1994). Coolio recorded his first single in 1987, titled “Whatcha Gonna Do?”. In 1994, Coolio signed to Tommy Boy Records and released his debut solo album It Takes a Thief. The lead single “Fantastic Voyage” received heavy rotation on MTV and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Fantastic Voyage” would become one of the biggest rap singles of the year. In 1995, Coolio released “Gangsta’s Paradise”, featuring R&B singer L.V., for the film Dangerous Minds. It became one of the most successful rap songs of all time, topping on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. “Gangsta’s Paradise” was the second-best-selling single of 1995 in the U.K. At the 1996 Grammy Awards, the song won Coolio a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. While at a friend’s house on September 28, 2022, Coolio was discovered unresponsive on a bathroom floor. First responders pronounced him dead on their arrival. His manager stated he appeared to have suffered a cardiac arrest. Rest In Peace Rapper Coolio.
Top 10 Uncommon Secrets For Uploading, Marketing & Releasing Your Music
Today, we are all educating ourselves on how best to strategize and schedule your releases and how best to market your music as an artist. In this article, you will learn more about the 8 Uncommon Secrets For Uploading, Marketing & Releasing Your Music. 1. Have a Plan! Repeat after me: “Let’s just put this out ASAP and see what happens” is not a plan! Having done this process countless times, I realized – “I need a real written process and one that I can share with my team, so everything is practically self-automated.” After writing everything down, I realized that we had over 70 different process items for independent label releases taking place in the 6 weeks leading up to the release date! Now, this is different if you’re a major label. For a major label, you might start 3-6 months before your release. To summarize the Top Uncommon Secret #1 – Have a Plan! 2. Give Yourself the Gift of Time This one ties into #1 above. I can’t tell you how many people will say “I want my song to come out next week, because it’s my birthday” or some “random” reason for a release date. NOPE. You really need 5-6 weeks upfront to your release. That’s what is consistently recommended by the DSP’s. You’ll want to have enough “upfront” time for several reasons- most importantly, to be able to pitch your music to those editorial and creative playlisters that can help support! Also, you’ll want to absolutely fill out your Spotify for Artists pitch forms so that you’ll be sure to show up in your fans “Release Radar” playlist, and as – or more – importantly, make sure your music gets to the right Spotify editorial teams. The other reason why “let’s get it out next week” isn’t a good idea is sometimes things go wrong! For instance, maybe there’s a mistake in the master, the artwork isn’t high resolution enough, there’s an issue in Apple policy on the artwork – all of this and more has happened to artists who often do rush releases. So do you want to have 6 weeks to correct the problem, or have zero time? I think you know the answer. 3. YouTube Promoted Videos YouTube Promoted Videos (i.e. pre-roll before a video) are the biggest bang for your buck in my opinion. If you do this correctly, you should be able to get a CPV (cost per view) down to .02-.03 cents (or less). And not just a “view,” but a “targeted” view, someone who is bound to be a new fan, based on the interests and other qualifications you’ve set up in the campaign. I’d especially jump on this if you have a killer video! 4. Hiring a TikTok Influencer Company This one is a little pricey, but if you get it right, these can be homeruns. Now, I’ll be the first to say that “let’s do a #TikTok challenge” is the cringe equivalent to saying “let’s make a viral video.” Meaning – anyone who set out to make a viral video usually never succeeded. LOL. However, for about $5,000 (starting price), you can hire one of the best TikTok influencer companies, who will outsource and hire their network of influencers to “seed” your #challenge or your original sound. From there, it’s off to the races. This is the primary marketing tool I see the major labels using today, where they’ll easily spend $30,000 + on a campaign. Here’s the thing: it’s just not about having a great #challenge or TikTok concept. You need connectors to spread the idea. You need the right influencers to carry those sonic frequencies and spark the fire. 5. Hiring a PR Company / Publicist Here’s what you need in order to make your publicist valuable: 1. Amazing music. 2. Your culture – meaning is there “weight” to your project? 3. A visual identity (that’s right – people respond to that). 4) Is what you’re doing actually cool? 5) Do you have an awesome story? If you don’t have all 5 of those elements, and you’re a new artist – I would seriously reconsider hiring a publicist. For now. Alternatively, if you have at least 4 of the above 5 factors, then get to it! 6. Don’t Pay for Spammy Playlisting Directories and Fake Streams Here’s a shortcut for Playlisting and Building Fans: There is no shortcut! A common mistake I often see is paying for DSP, Spotify, Apple playlisting directories and hiring playlist marketing services. Or even worse – “pay for play” streams. Basically, those just don’t work. The best shortcut to getting your music the right attention is to put in the work, have a long term objective, and a plan which allows you to consistently release high quality music. 7. Collaborate with Featured Artists Here’s one that’s obvious, but often underutilized. You see this a lot in the Hip Hop and EDM space (and somewhat in pop), but not as much in the other genres. The idea here is super simple. Identify an artist in your genre (or even a cross genre collaboration!) that you’d love to work with. Maybe you’ve been on tour with them, Maybe you’re a fan, Maybe this artist is in your Spotify “Fans Also Like” section. Reach out to them with an interesting collaboration idea and release the song so that your collaborative efforts will impact the attention on your song (engaging both your fanbase and your collaborator’s) with all the streams counting towards your Spotify Monthly Listeners. HINT: Are you limited to just 1 featured artist? Nope! No doubt there are upwards of 3 and 4 total featured artists these days on one song. You should try it as well! 8. Who Not How? Aka Ask for Help The question is not “how are you going to have success launching your music? You see, the great movers and shakers of the world are not necessarily great “how-ers,’ but great “who-ers.” Who can help you and who can you graciously ask for
Whip Music & Hafrikplay Africa Partner To Promote Underground Talent In Africa
Nigerian music has been taking the world by storm in recent years. From Burna Boy filling up New York’s Madison Square Garden with over 20K attendees to Tems making history as the first Nigerian to have a No.1 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Many artists dream of following in these artists’ footsteps and Whip Music Africa and Hafrikplay have joined hands to support them. Whip Music Africa is a digital talent marketplace that connects African music professionals to music opportunities, services and networks. They leverage AI to help organisations scout & vet high potential talent. Hafrikplay is a Nigerian founded artist-first afrobeat inspired music streaming platform focused on underground and African talents. It allows creators to share unlimited music and podcast content through its mobile apps and website for free. Through this collaboration, upcoming artists can access a variety of offers that will help them accelerate their music careers. The first offer will enable selected artists to have their songs featured on Hafrikplay’s playlists and receive financial and strategic music promotion support from both brands. Whip Music Africa will leverage its AI technology to scout, vet and select high potential music artists who will most benefit from this offering. Hafrikplay will leverage its promotion and distribution expertise to guide the artists on growing their fanbase. This is the first of many more initiatives the brands will collaborate on to promote upcoming talent in Africa. “This partnership brings unlimited and endless opportunities for underground talents. The magnitude of artists who would benefit from this is uncountable because we intend to phantom as many programs and projects as possible”, says Hafrikplay Head Of Administrative, Karimat Alaka. The integration of these brands leads to a broad promotion of underground African talents including artists , producers , DJs , sound engineers and podcasters. Hafrikplay and Whip Music Africa have similar structural DNA for globalisation and exportation of African talents to the world by putting Afrobeats as a genre at the forefront. . “We intend to make both of our platforms a gateway for independent and underground artists to have a voice loud enough to help them achieve growth and development on their journey to stardom. We know how difficult it can be to make it as an upcoming artist, irrespective of your talent, and our vision is to make their journey easier,” says Melissa Kariuki, Whip Music Africa Founder & CEO. This partnership creates an environment for upcoming talent to groom their fanbase, collaborate with other talent and strategically position themselves for further opportunities to bolster their music careers. “In addition to offering these opportunities, we intend to educate the artists on the importance of understanding the business of music which includes learning how to position yourself in the industry and market your music. Artist education is a key pillar of Whip’s value as we quickly learned that there are many talented artists but there’s a huge knowledge gap. With each opportunity we put forward, we ensure to provide the necessary education around so we do our part in filling that gap,” Kariuki explained. Artists can benefit greatly from joining the Hafrikplay community which features both listeners and artists. Hafrikplay offers unique benefits such as song importation enabling artists to easily upload their songs from streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Deezer, SoundCloud and Youtube. They also offer a points system enabling artists to earn incentives to further support their careers. Artists can leverage their platform to connect with their fanbase in unique ways from selling merchandise and listing events to blogging. Evidently, both Hafrikplay and Whip Music Africa have so much value to offer upcoming talent. Interested artists should follow both brands on social media here and here to stay up-to-date with the latest offerings. Contact Us For Music Promotions HERE