Before I will try to digest this question and make any sense of it, I will ask another question that will trigger another nagging set of questions that will determine how rich or poor today’s Nigerian trending artistes will be in the nearest future.

What will become of most Nigerian artistes of today when their musical works no longer add up and their fans and account balance dried up? What will become of them when the wear and tear of diminishing returns falls on those flashy cars they are only investing on today? How do they plan to maintain their high standard of living when those performance fees vanish into thin air?

Without throwing shades, what have become of those one time super stars and young guys from groups like Remedies, Trybemen and Da Trybe. What can we make up of guys like Mad Melon and Mountain Black of the Danfo Drivers fame? How are the likes of Marvelous Benjy, African China and the boys from the group Maintain? Majority of these artistes mentioned, at one time or the other were at the pinnacle of the Nigerian music industry controlling every marketing budget.

To provide an answer to the immediate above question and also understand why some of the said artistes are pretty not doing well financially, we will have to provide an answer to the question on the heading of this story. Do Nigerian artistes actually re-invest in the industry apart from their previous or today’s trending singles? In terms of re-investing income, do these artiste invest in proper musical or visual studio? Do they re-invest in proper artiste management firm designed to provide expertise to the next generation of performers. Do they re-invent in such a way that the industry can continue to provide income for them when they are no longer active as a performing artiste? I am not talking about that small sound studio inside that indie label they run now.

The likes of Dr. Dre and Pharrell Williams are the prototypes of what a progressive and determined Nigerian artiste should strive to become. These two icons of the music industry have remained relevant for decades. They have made success of themselves as performing artistes and successful music moguls. They have defied the odds of time. They have overcome that basic season killing factor called trend. They have evolved and continue to metamorphose to what today’s industry is or will become. They have maintained success because they re-invested inside the industry that provides for them. To maintain a lifetime success in this industry, I think it will be wise for artistes to see beyond all the accolades that come in with every hit single/album and also find a way to manage societal pressure that drives one to keep appearances by spending extravagantly on luxury goods. For the growth of the industry that took care of you and will continue to do same, it’s paramount to re-invest in that same industry.