Slimcase Raises Alarm Over Rising Cost Of Music Promotion

Kehinde Adeleye

Street artiste, Slimcase, has raised concerns over the rising cost of promoting music in Nigeria, claiming that artistes now need as much as ₦265 million to properly promote a single song.

The ‘Shaku Shaku’ crooner made the claim during a recent interview with Echo Room, where he lamented the challenges faced by upcoming artistes trying to gain visibility in the Nigerian music industry.

According to Slimcase, the growth of influencer culture has contributed significantly to the rising cost of music promotion, as dancers and content creators who previously sought opportunities to work with artistes now charge substantial fees to feature their songs.

“Back in the days, dancers flooded artists’ DMs. Now you have to pay them big, even content creators. $200,000 is not enough to blow a song now,” he said.

Slimcase argued that the high cost of promotion has made it increasingly difficult for talented emerging artistes to break into the mainstream, leaving established artistes and their songs to dominate the industry for years.

“And that is why you hear the same artist and sound for over 20 years, while many upcoming artists remain unheard,” he added.

The artiste appealed to music executives and other industry stakeholders to consider the challenges facing emerging artistes and explore ways of reducing the financial burden associated with music promotion.

He also called on Nigerians to support upcoming artistes by discovering and listening to their music rather than relying solely on influencers and mainstream media to determine what they listen to.