The impact of Music PR can not be overemphasized. The music arm of the Nigerian Entertainment Industry was set to generate $86 million (3.09 billion) in 2021, making it the largest in Africa. According to the report by the International Trade Administration (ITA), digital music consumption contributed a major portion of this revenue.
However, it appears making music alone is not responsible for this revenue figure as the music industry has seen a major influx of music public relations experts and even social media influencers in the last five years. This increase in digital music PR activities has led to a high rate of digital music consumption both in Nigeria. And even so globally.
The role of the COVID pandemic in today’s Music PR.
Music PR became widely accepted during the pandemic and movement restrictions as people had to stay in their homes. The impact of this sector on both established and new musical artists can be strongly felt. Released as a single in 2019, Ckay’s “Love Nwantiti” is one vivid example. An example of the influence music PR can have on up and coming artists.
Moving from 2019 with an average number of streams to becoming a commercial success in 2020. And topping charts in the Middle East, North Africa and many European club venues in 2021. One might ask, how do these people understand the lyrics of the song? With the visuals surpassing 200 million streams on YouTube, the rising popularity came from music PRs across different platforms including TikTok.
“For artists, this is a real creative space where they can reach a community super effectively. By expressing their visual voice in the rawest way possible”.
As though taking a cue from the influence of PR on this song and its success, a lot of new artists are now moving in the same direction. It is now common to find social media influencers dancing to songs on Instagram, why? Because they command a large number of followers and this, in turn, means more streams.
Music public relations today.
A fast company report noted that Instagram users are more interested in music than the general population. 30% of their time goes into listening to music each week. And they are twice as likely to pay for a music streaming service as indicated by a Nielsen study.
To further prove the role of Music PR through social media on artists recognition and popularity, Instagram’s head of music partnerships Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood said; “for artists, this is a real creative space where they can reach a community super effectively. By expressing their visual voice in the rawest way possible”.
Music PR has a lot of influence on new artists. In this digital age, information spreads very fast, the same thing that will happen to a promoted song. Asides from music promotion, it establishes their brand or genre of music and therefore creates brand credibility and a loyal listening audience.
Find CKay featured on the Glazia List: Best Songs of 2021. Click here to download for FREE