

Kudos to the duo of Davido and Wizkid for making Africa and indeed Nigeria proud. Both are presently at the top of their games and both are doing it big.
First of all,I believe Wizkid is naturally more talented than Davido. However in the long run,Wizkid’s strategy is flawed and if he doesn’t retrace his steps back home real quick,Davido will eventually surpass and outlast him in the game. As we all know, success is more of hardwork and strategy than the actual innate talent itself.
One of the most important marketing factors for artists to break into the mainstream audiences of virtually all societies is the COOL FACTOR. Some will argue,that it is even more important than the quality of the music itself. In this case, we are talking of the American society where most music buyers and concert goers are between the ages of 13 and 30. When you ask the average giddy American teenage music fan about Africa,what comes to their minds are wars,famine,hunger,HIV and maybe wildlife on the the positive side. As Africans,we are anything but cool to the average American teen. Period. The American market is incredibly tough and it takes a whole lot more than talent to break into. Even only a handful of British acts have been able to break into it over the years.
For any artist to become a true global superstar,it takes serious marketing strategy and massive budget in dollars. And for an African artist,it’s going to take a lot more,which record labels might not be willing to put behind him. Even already cool and established American musicians regularly part ways with their record labels on the back of poor budgets,marketing and promotion given their albums.
Example is 50cent leaving interscope in 2014 and the legendary Micheal Jackson calling Tomy Motolla of Sony music a devil for not. putting the budget behind his 2001 blood on the dance floor album. Now if Micheal Jackson was complaining of marketing,what hope has Wizkid got without being the priority artist of a major label who will put the budget behind his project? Even with all the international artists features,a cursory glance at both of Davido’s and Wizkid’s social media profiles shows that the overwhelming majority of their followers are Nigerians or Africans,not Americans,and when they are,they are usually first generation Americans who still maintain some kind of contact with their African roots. Same goes for their foreign concerts attendees who are mostly Nigerians and Africans in diaspora. These shows that despite the expensive musical sojourn,his appeal is largely within Africa and Africans in diaspora. In fact,as at last count Davido has 4.5 million followers compared to Wizkid’s 3.8 million followers.
Now the risk for Wizkid is that, with all the American adventure he most likely won’t ever break the American Market,which by now,is probably burning holes in his pocket. Yes,he has won some international awards but so did D’banj. At the same time, he his having to tweak his music to satisfy the American audience who probably won’t accept him anyway, while neglecting the Nigerian (street)audience. When was the last local (street) hit by Wizkid? I will wager it’s Baba Nla. That’s a two years old song while the likes of Techno and Runtown have blossomed. With the international recognition that ‘’IF’’by Davido has garnered,it clearly shows you do not have to adopt western styles to be appreciated outside the shores of Africa. Fela,King Sunny Ade and Youssou n’dour are all examples of international successes while keeping to their African roots.
Ultimately, it’s not that African music isn’t good enough for mainstream American audience it’s just that the kind of budget that will be required to sell,package and brand such an African artist and his music to the American public will probably not make any business sense to these labels. Finally,I believe Wizkid is arguably one of the most talented artiste ever to come out of Africa, but his western quest will likely turn out to be a misadventure and he might become the next Dbanj.