Music, Piracy and Social Media with Muyiwa

Selar recently had a tweet-chat with Muyiwa Akhigbe, a Nigerian Contemporary and Indigenous Afro Soul artist who recently just released his first EP. Muyiwà’s unique sound and talents have garnered him a large following and audience all within a short period of time.

Selar: What would you say your creative process is like?

Muyiwà: Honestly, there’s no straight forward answer to this question when it comes to my creative process, because, it’s a process and because it’s a process, it consists of series of events which may occur at any point in time. My creative process is fueled by the things I expose myself to and the activities I engage myself in basically.

Selar: Great, Do you come up with ideas for a new song in the same manner?

Muyiwà: Yes of course, actually when it comes to birthing song ideas, there are many indices that can influence the process. It could be the way I feel, or it could just be me trying to experiment with new sounds and all. But definitely the creative process stays relevant. It is by that I’m able to place all the pieces together to create something iconic

Selar: How would you describe the effect twitter has had on your brand?

Muyiwà: Well, firstly Twitter is a social medium to propagate, evangelize and also connect with potential customers/fans.

There’s a common misconception that social media can help you mold your brand into whatever you want it to be.

I feel that’s wrong, wrong in the sense that a brand is a brand with or without the presence of social media. All the peculiarities and distinctive features that make a brand what it stands for has to be defined first before anything. Then we can now look to social media to push that brand beyond borders of both the terrestrial and the digital ecosystem. So I would say no, Twitter has little or no effect on Muyiwà as a brand.

Selar: Interesting views. Do you think Nigerians are paying for digital content such as art, music, e.t.c?

Muyiwà: I would say yes, a reasonable percentage of Nigerians pay for digital content such as art, music and also e-literature. Having said that, marketing digital content is way more tricky than marketing tangible products.

There are products that I’ll have to purchase first before running assessments on them e.g edibles. Also there are products that I’ll have to run assessments on before purchasing them. That’s where digital content falls under, taking music for example, people wanna listen to music first before deciding whether or not to purchase it. Unlike edibles where they would purchase first then later decide if it was worth it or not. That’s one factor that affects sales of digital content.

Another factor is the medium of payment. Everyone can afford to pay #150 Naira cash for an album when stuck in traffic but not everyone has the means to not only go online, but to be able to make an online transaction successfully.

Selar: What Policies do you think can be implemented to help curb Piracy in Nigeria?

Muyiwà: Even with all the policies that have been put in place to oversee piracy, it is still very much rampant. So rampant that artistes pay to get their content pirated because by doing that, it’ll make more sales. The law is firm on this issue but the true solution lies in the hands of me and you.

We all need to understand that artistes are not playing, if we put out something and we say it’s for sale, we all should respect that and try to purchase it. We are all guilty of such acts, we try to look for the free version. When I realized this, I started purchasing, if I can’t make an online transaction, I’ll buy it on the road and I feel good about doing so because I know I’ll need people to purchase mine someday.

So we all have to change our mindset no matter how much they create new laws against piracy, if we don’t change that “we can get it free from one site” mentality, piracy will never end.

Selar: Where do you see your Musical career 5 years from now?

Muyiwà: Man can only plan, God knows best. But in 5 years, I wanna touch so many lives that when you see Muyiwà Live In Concert, you’ll come with your extended family. I wanna comfortably host a concert where at least a thousand people would be present. Not so much.

Selar: Muyiwà to the world. Thank you Muyiwà for taking time to chat with us. We wish you the best and we also can’t wait for your new single to drop.

Muyiwà: Thank you for having me, I had a wonderful time. Till we tweet again. Cheers!

Muyiwa’s debut EP Dear Music can be bought on Selar if you haven’t gotten it yet.

Selar provides Nigerians with the necessary tools to sell digital/physical products and services, and collect payments online easily.