Many years ago, I got an appointment with foremost Nigerian Gospel DJ, DJ GOSPORELLA. He asked me to come see him at the then Minaj Broadcast International(MBI) TV. If you still remember MBI, then you know this was very long time and if you live in lagos but was not born when the TV station was in operation, please kindly always add PAPA before my name… Thank you?.
The purpose of that meeting was for him to listen to my songs and also give me airplay because he had a radio show and beautiful relationship with the media. Did I mention, it took me almost 6 months to get access to him ooooo, as a matter of fact, it took the intervention of my dearest friend Chichi he was a presenter with the TV station MBI for me to have that appointment.
When we met, I gave Baba my CD, an EP I had done.. He listened to all the songs carefully as we sat in his car. Then he said this thing I am about to you now to me.
He said, Amachree, if you want to blow, be relevant and continue to be relevant in music as a gospel artiste, then THINK LIKE AN ARTISTE, NOT A GOSPEL SINGER.
If I told you I understood what that meant immediately erhn na lie ooooo. I was looking at him confused. He smiled and said to me, to blow in music is not as hard as you people think but you gospel singers don’t know a lot of things. You see yourself as a gospel singer and so it affects your output.
He reached out and brought a CD and played about three songs of one secular artistes I won’t mention name here. Three Hit songs from same artistes, he played back to back and he said to me, a gospel artiste can create a sound better than this and get the world captured and captivated by it.
Again he said to me, stop thinking like a gospel singer but an artiste, look at the successful artistes in the world, learn from them.
He then commended my efforts and finally chose one of my songs and asked me to go remake a particular tract in that EP and bring to him. He told me that the song he asked me to remake was the most promising song in that EP.
I took his advice, remake that song, and that one song did a lot in my career, got me my first award with MC Awards, got me on NTA AMexpress; nation wide, got me an interview on Galaxy TV and Three News paper interviews between 2010-2011.
When I hear people say, nobody can tell you a song that will blow you, I just laugh at their ignorance and the confidence with which they show their ignorance.
I couldn’t meet with DJ Gosporella again after that first meeting but he definitely changed my mindset about music Influence and Business completely.
You see music is not biased. Music does not know if you are gospel or secular. Music is an art and just like every art, there’s need to learn and understand the secrets to effective performance. Music is music for both gospel and secular; same rules and principles. Think like an artiste not just a singer. An artiste is a brand or an intending brand at least. An artiste is in serious business and this mindset ultimately affect his or her output.
You may say but a gospel artiste is not in music for money na, so it’s not business. Ok sir! Business is an exchange of value. NGOs are in business. You might say your music is free to download but it still cost us some DATA so it’s not free to us. We exchange data for your song, that is business. If we must use our data, then your song must be valuable too. This is how an artiste thinks. He thinks Value. He thinks business. This changes everything.
Until your mindset can accommodate this simple mystery, forget about influence in music, if you blow by accident self, you will still become an upcoming artiste back. You know I love you sha… We are in this together.
Amachree Ikijana Alex. (AIA)
Celebrity Music Coach
Music Content, Influence and Business Coach.
