Call them sound cloud artistes, new age or ccte sound, a tribe of young Nigerian musicians have successfully created an ecosystem for themselves with a community of people who care, listen and connect to the kind of music they make-they also project defiant lifestyle in contrast to what is generally acceptable with their music, their fashion, statements or even the way they choose to articulate and perform their music.
The impact this bunch of young artistes have made in the industry today cannot longer be ignored as they have held their own when it mattered when placed on the same pedestal with other Nigerian pop music counterparts, the likes of Odunsi, the Engine, Tomi Thomas, TayIwar, Lany Donli Nonso Amadi and many others lead the pack and are obviously more popular than they used to be a few years ago.
There are also more like them spread around different parts of the country but these artistes mentioned above, clearly they can be said to have conjured the nitch market that they created by their networking skills and the sounds of the music that they make together while leaning on the strength of each other to push their craft. These members of the Sound Cloud platform are great, but there is a problem, these members are yet to transform into mainstream success as much as it should be especially with the type of content that they make.
No one can fault their quality of music and it begs the question why aren’t these gap gaining full mainstream recognition from all indication-it many seem that these guys have deliberately isolated themselves from their larger demographics of Nigerian audience who may as well be the key to them reaching mainstream success.
Perhaps it is to preserve their ideology that makes these young millennial prefer not to ride with the norm, opening up to mainstream appeal may adulterate the nature of their sound and that is the fear of most of these young ones, so they prefer to let it be within that community of people who can connect to what they offer.
But they can learn a lot from their senior colleagues like Simi, Adekunle Gold, Jonny Drill who are some of the very few that have been able to find balance with making the kind of music that is true to them while striking a balance with the mainstream pop appeal.
However, only time will tell before the music industry in Nigeria will largely rest on their laps. What is now known as ‘Alternative’ will surely become what dictates mainstream appeal but for now let us just enjoy their growth process.