The Unveal Review Podcast Ep. 1 [Part 1]

Hosts: Excel & Chinwe.

Talking points:

Davido's sold out 02 concert, Nigerian artistes coming late to their shows, Zlatan bringing up the zanku dance, Odunsi as the face of Alte music and the predominance of free music.

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S2 E4: Dear Artiste (Talent Managers Edition)

Host: Excel & Melody Hassan

Talking Points:

Discussion on What an ideal team for an artist should be and how Ifeanyi listed the essentials of an artist team which includes A very good manager which embodies  a talent manager, business manager, road manager. Tiwa savage was used as an example because of her level of exposure and work.

Artists Manager input in the artist Brand Identity; Every talent manager should have a say in the artist brand identity as the artist does not know it all,as that is where the manager comes in, to MANAGE.The manager is seeing the artist as a business and so the manager helps to achieve this aim through inputs that should lead to the end goal. Music shouldn’t be done in a way as RUNTOWN was used as an example.

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S2 E5: Dear Artiste (Artiste Edition)

Hosts: Excel & Melody Hassan.

Talking points: 

Discussion on the inspiration behind each artists decision of being a music artists and what makes it difficult doing music ; Case in point Producers asking way too much from artist because they expect you to have money amongst other things. Also the need to have a proper structure in which a usuable system can be placed in it. Dapotuburna also made reference to having a better orientation where by people most especially Music Artists need to put in more work by placing themselves out there.

Also artist should always get lawyers, with accounted receipts for everything as accountability matters too.

Discussion on the lack of Diverse Sound as the team always want to dictate  the kind of the sound and versatility......and many more.

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S2 E6: Peace of Mind

Hosts: Excel & Melody Hassan

Talking Points:

The public outcry online by the majority of the nations social media users concerning the events that transpired on Big Brother Naija 2019. 

Cyberbullying of Tacha by ZLATAN having released a record concerning the former's hygiene with our hosts calling out Tacha fans for having double standards when given a taste of their of own medicine. 

The recent cyphers between choc city and vector also vector being betrayed and M.I having one over vector. 

Touching on the #BRIA and  Corleone's cover on BRIA being harder referencing the Pusha T Drake rap beef and about how Pusha T won the beef attacking the Drake perception. 

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S2 E7: Dear Artiste (Consumers Edition)

Hosts: Excel & Melody Hassan

Talking Points: 

The table also touched on the lack of enthusiasm for knowledge by most of the creatives for the business side of things, the importance of a team networking and building relationships especially the people behind the scenes who never get due credit due to the work put in to create a brand or a fast rising artiste (Scooter Braun/Ariana Grande etc).

RESPECT!!! The table went on to tackle a lingering problem in the ecosystem which really shouldn’t be an issue but is due to character taints like not being punctual, lack of excellence, indulging in vices, stereotypes, the overwhelming sense of entitlement to mention a few.

The table then went on to talk about radio, airplay, playlisting and basically the structure of radio in Nigeria in regards to the consumers.

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S2 E9: Dear Artiste (Executives & Legal Edition)

Host: Excel Joab

Guests: Titi Adesoga, Tersoo Abagu, Ogagus, Tami Romeo, Jumoke Adebiyi & L3galtool

Discussions on:

Importance of an artiste to being attentive and follow instruction.

Importance of an artiste to keep track record of every expense a label or investor spends on their career.

Importance of an artiste in respecting privacy of those who work with them.

Reasons why artistes leave their labels.

How artistes don’t fully understand the contract they sign.

The function of having an educated team and being educated as an artiste.

Importance of getting a lawyer to represent and fight in the best interest as an artiste and actually allowing them to do their job.

Importance of data analytics and taking advantage of technology and maximizing its strength to achieve better result as an artiste.

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The Unveal Review Podcast - S2 E8: Dear Artiste (A&R And Music Journalist Edition)

Hosts: Excel & Melody Hassan

Guests: Tolani Alake, Ugo Ikeakor, Ade, Joey Akan, Segun Akande & L3galtool

Discussions on:

What or who is an A/R? Why do we need and A/R when do we need an A/R. The fine line between an A/R and a manager. Understanding the role of an A/R in the Nigerian entertainment scene and in the larger picture the development and the creative direction of artistes as opposed to the indulgence of creatives and their vices.

With the importance of Music journalists not being understated the need for unbiased and impartial journalists in our music industry cannot be stressed enough with the need for reviews and the weight of reviews not same as 5 10 years ago. Therefore objective reviews are parmount and key.

Also, we touch on the importance and the undying need of music journalists

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The Unveal Review Podcast - S2 E3: Evolving

Hosts: Excel & Melody Hassan

Talking Points: 

The main body of the podcasts starts off with an appreciation shoutout to the Unveal fans which is critical as a testament to our steady growth with the podcast having positive impacts on creatives and helping them realise some of their basic rights take the producer mentioned by excel in the podcast for example. In this week’s case, our hosts talk about the necessity of having a good team and a proper strategy for a brand as opposed to the unprofessional attitude associated with some industry acts such as not giving credit or paying royalties to mention a few.

The hosts then conform with the myth of the ‘ember’ period or the Q4 or in the words of Excel Gbedu period circling the Nigerian entertainment industry.

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The Unveal Review Podcast S2 E2: Dear Artiste (Producers Edition)

Host: Excel & Melody Hassan

Guests: Qasebeats, Alpha Ojini, Lola Oyedele(@l3galtool), SynX, T.U.C, TMXO, Dunnie, Xtremebeatz, Tuzi

Talking points:

As a music producer, the payment you get is for your time not really the beat. Royalty is for creativity.

There is a 50% fixed publishing royalties all over the world. The advance you get on the beats is for your time and energy.

One of the producers discussed issues they face when working with artists in situations when there was negligence to do certain things. If a song is released and the split sheet was not signed you need to get a lawyer.

Publishers sign songwriters too. Do we have publishing companies in Nigeria? Lola answered in the affirmative and further explained how it works.

People get their publishing in Nigeria. For everything you don’t know someone is ready to make it a stream of income.

You have to read whatever about publishing concerning the country involved.

COSON is the collecting society for copyrights in Nigeria.

One of the guests (Xtremebeatz) talked about how Tyga the American rapper changed the horns on a beat he made. Lola advised that he should follow up with Tyga.

Interpolation is when a producer cannot get approval to use a sample so they record elements of the music such as melody and lyrics without using the master recording and also requires the purchase of the mechanical license. Credits must also be given to the original composer. It’s a cheaper alternative to sampling.

Sometimes unknowingly producers sign off moral rights. What is a moral right? These are rights of creators of copyrighted works.

An artist doesn’t owe you anything if as a producer or songwriter you were properly remunerated.

There’s no producers association in Nigeria.

The onus is on the artist to send a producer agreement to a producer.

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The Unveal Review Podcast S2 E1: New Season

Host: Excel

Guest: Melody Hassan

Talking points:

They are back after a break.

They start with talking about the new sound out now in the Nigerian music industry. Comparing Naira Marley and Zlatan ibile. Excel says both of them are hot at the moment and should drop a joint project.

Beyonce dropped a new album titled “The Gift” with a lot of Nigerians on the album such as Burna boy, Wizkid, Yemi Alade, Tekno and Tiwa savage and the rest of Africa was quite upset that more Africans were not on it. Melody hopes we get a Beyonce African tour.

Excel says he has not seen a fan base as crazy as Wiz kid’s fans. They are known as Wiz kid FC.

Burna boy dropped a new album titled “African Giant” the title of the album was inspired by an episode in January when he called out the organizers of Coachella for writing his name in small fonts saying he deserves to be in big fonts and that he is an African Giant. Melody says the Americans know our sound and our artists so they should give us a lot more respect. Burna boy is tipped to get a Grammy nomination. The features on the album were strategic.

Zlatan needs to think about the next phase of his career because the dance he pioneered will soon fade.

Artists should pay attention to what goes into promotion of songs. Most record labels don’t do promotions for their artist which is not normal. Artists also need to be in touch with reality. Social media popularity does not equate to been popular in real life.

Alaba international market is still a major marketing force in the music industry. They cater to people who are offline.

The year is almost over but we are expecting albums from a couple of artists like Wiz kid, M.I and a couple of other artists.

Excel says radio does not guarantee your song been in a hit in Nigeria and melody is not having any of it. As an OAP she refuses to agree to Excel’s point of view.

Melody discusses how artists call them (OAPs) to lobby for their songs to be played. She also says she is not fan of artists paying OAPs to play their songs.

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