Music Business by Emmanuel Omeiza Samuel

MUSIC BUSINESS: BEYOND THE VOICE
BY EMMANUEL OMEIZA SAMUEL
1
MUSIC BUSINESS:
BEYOND THE VOICE
(THE SEVEN
PERFECTED STEPS)
BY
EMMANUEL OMEIZA
SAMUEL
2
Copyright
Copyright © Emmanuel Omeiza Samuel 2023
The right of Emmanuel Omeiza Samuel to be identified as the

author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with
the Copyright Law of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
All rights reserved. Other than brief excerpts for reviews and
commentaries, no part of this publication (online & offline) may
be reproduced, translated, stored or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission by the Owner of
this copyright.
3
Chapter 1 (The Mindset Shift)
How old are you? Yes, you? I don't mean your age in life, I
am talking about your age in music. How long have you
been singing professionally?
How much have you made from music? Have you ever
thought of why some artistes who are not 'popular' are
making big money from music while some who get invited
every time do not?
Have you ever wondered why some people know how to
sing very well in church, yet the 'church rat' is richer than
they are?
One last question, do you know that if you pay a blogger to
blog your song, that blogger has scored you 5:0? Ah! You
are shocked! I just hope the blogging community won't
4
crucify me. Trust me; I know this because I am also a
blogger.
1:0 is the fact that you paid him ₦10,000 to blog a song that
may probably not have up to 100 downloads and guess what?
You won't even know if anyone downloaded your song or
not.
2:0 is the fact that although you sang the song, immediately
you send your mp3 to a blogger, he/she becomes the original
owner of your song. Shocking, right? Let me expose one
secret to you. The moment someone has the mp3 file of your
song, if it's not on digital stores before, such person can
upload it there and it automatically becomes his/hers.
Remember Portable's “Zazu zeh” saga.
5
3:0 If your song is good, it's a plus for the person. He/she
can even get an endorsement deal with your song.
4:0 If the song has been uploaded to digital stores by a
blogger, then you can't upload the song again. Yes! I know
you sang the song but the ownership has been transferred.
5:0 He/she keeps making money with your song while you
get nothing. Oh! You may get "Nice song, bro", "Beautiful
voice you've got there, sis", "I love the instrumentals"
The day I knew this, I almost broke bottle on my head.
Let's get to what you need to know about the MUSIC
BUSINESS!
6
Chapter 2 (Basic Knowledge)
Now that I have exposed you to all the mistakes one can
make as an artiste, let me show you the way out.
There are three ways through which you can make money
with music.
1. Live Performance.
Live performance is a situation where one or a group of
people perform live either on stage or in a studio. We have
different types of Live Performance, but for the purpose of
this book, we'll discuss concert.
7
Concert: According to Wikipedia, a concert is a live music
performance in front of an audience. The performance may
be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or
by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band.
You can earn money by hosting a concert. Gate fees, Music
Launch and the likes are ways to generate money in a
concert.
You can also earn money when invited for a concert or an
occasion. The agreed payment for invitation and monies
sprayed on you.
2. Social Media Content Creation.
The Social Media space is a very powerful environment to
milk money from with your talent/skill. As an Artiste, you
can make money by creating nice covers for popular songs
8
and what have view. Although, the money making process
for Social Media is not immediate, but it is an eventual
result if consistency and hard work is put in.
3. Digital platforms.
If you see an artiste happy because he/she has 100,000
streams on Boomplay, Apple Music or Spotify, he or she is
not just happy because his/her song has gone wide, he/she
knows how many dollars, he/she has made from that song.
Digital platforms pay what is called "royalties" to song
owners and it is surely one of the ways to make money in
the Music space.
9
Chapter 3 (Common Mistakes)
In Mid October, someone met me to design a cover art for
his music which he wanted to release the following week.
He told me that I should make it quick because he would use
to create an anticipatory post. He wanted to add some other
unnecessary things to the song I advised him not to. Guess
what? This guy is a good singer, and a music director in a
very popular church, but he lacks music business knowledge.
If one understands music very well and lacks the knowledge
of music business, there's every possibility for such a person
to never make a dime from music.
10
The guy in my above stated illustration, made mistakes that
could make the song never to get 100 streams and I'll be
analyzing them below.
i. Creating a cover for his song just one week to the release
shortens his time to promote the song before the release date.
ii. Uploading his song on YouTube only (which is not really
an audio music streaming platform) kills the chances of his
song to ever get massive streams or 'blow' as my people call
it.
iii. He almost made the mistake of adding unnecessary
information on his song's cover art. Why would someone
11
want to write the genre of one's song on the cover art, or
write the location where the song was produced on a music
cover art? It is so unnecessary! In the next chapter, I would
discuss what you should know on cover art and other related
graphic designs.
To cap it all off, let me tell you one grave mistake I made
during my very early days in music promotion.
I had designed the anticipatory flyer for the song over a
month to it release and had started posting the flyer across
my social media handles. So many people were anticipating,
but I had not uploaded the song on my blog (I had a blog
that time) because the producer have not sent the song. Mind
you, I recorded the song three weeks to its release; this
means that I had already had people anticipating the song
12
before I recorded it. The producer promised me it'll be ready
in two weeks time. So, I had put my mind in the fact that I
was going to upload it on my blog and Audiomack a week
to the release date (I didn't have the slightest idea on Digital
platforms). I promised my fans that I was going to release
the song around 6pm. Guess what? My producer so
disappointed me that I didn't get the song until the day of the
release because he fell ill. I had to go to his studio and
pleaded with him to complete the mastering and send the
song to me. I was under all the pressure of this world. At the
end of the day, I got my song around 6:30pm on the release
date and finally put it online around 8:30pm. The little fan
base I had was already on my neck, some of them
downloaded the song and till today, I never want to tell
people that I recorded a song like that because the
production was poor.
13
Poor production + Poor promotion almost ended my music
career.
14
Chapter 4 (Graphic Designs)
Graphic Design is so essential in the promotion of any skill
or product. It is one of the most effective ways to put your
product, service or skill on people's minds in today's world. I
have once told a friend of mine that if I want to vote in an
election where I do not know the abilities of the contestants,
I will vote for the person with the most eye-catching graphic
design.
Humans are wired to retain images of aesthetically pleasing
contents than word of mouth.
As an Artiste, you need good graphic designs to sell your
music. Apart from building your brand, there are three key
15
graphic designs you must prepare for while preparing for a
music release.
1. Anticipatory/ pre-release designs.
These are the designs that you use in keeping you fans or
prospective fans informed on the song you want to release
and the release date. These designs create awareness and
also keep your fans anticipated.
Your pre-release design can be just one or more than one,
but it must be promoted well.
2. Cover Art.
This is the main graphic design for your song. It must
contain only four things, namely:
16
a. Your picture or an image representing the song title.
b. Your artiste name
c. Your song title
d. The name of the producer (optional)
If you are under a record label, you can add their name too.
3. Post release designs.
These are graphic designs you use for your music promotion.
You can also use appreciation posts like "Thank you for
10,000+ streams" to further promote your song.
We also have Pre-release videos and Post-release videos that
serve their functions too.
17
Note: The quality of your cover art can determine the
turnout of engagements you'll get.
18
Chapter 5 (Promotion)
If you remember vividly, there was a time when the home of
music and movies in Nigeria is Alaba International Market.
In those days, if anyone really wants to make it in the music
or movie industry, one had to visit Alaba International
Market in Lagos. Without exaggerating, thousands of
millions of naira was generated in that market.
The Alaba International Market of this era is the social
media. The use of social media platforms has overtaken the
effect of the popular Alaba International Market in Nigeria.
There are so many Artistes that has made it in music and do
not know the road to that market. This is because since
music has become a digital property, there is no need for a
physical store to promote it. To push further, The Social
Media is most effective than any offline strategy in music
19
promotion. This is why most of your favourite artistes are
constantly making videos online with their songs.
In the secular scene, the likes of Asake, Kizz Daniel and
most of Don Jazzy's signees make so many videos with their
songs and even go further to introduce either a dance or
cover challenge with their songs. The same happens in
Gospel Music. Moses Bliss' "Daddy wey dey pamper"
challenge, Ebuka Songs' "I am a solider" challenge amongst
others are typical examples of how Artistes both in Gospel
and Secular spheres use social
Trust me; most of your favourite artistes do pay Social
Media Platforms and Influencers to advertise their songs.
When next anyone tells you not to spend money on
20
promotion using religious references, tell him or her that
although God is the lifter of men, you need to position
yourself well to be lifted.
The power of social media in music promotion cannot be
overemphasized and sponsored adverts either through social
media influencers or platforms are the big players in this
case.
You need to know how to run an ad, or meet someone
(preferably, a social media expert) who knows how to do it
so as to avoid wasting your money.
21
Chapter 6 (Algorithm)
Algorithms are used by search engines, social media
platforms, and other digital platforms to determine what
content is shown to users, which ads are displayed, and how
much advertisers pay for ads. They are designed to improve
the user experience and maximize the effectiveness of
digital marketing campaigns by presenting the most relevant
and valuable information to the users based on their search
queries or browsing behaviors.
It is very important for as an Artiste in this era to understand
how algorithms works, so as to optimize content and
22
strategies to meet these algorithms' requirements and
increase their visibility and reach to target audiences.
If you want to use the algorithm to your advantage, do the
following:
• Your song must be uploaded to digital platforms 30 days
before its release, so as to allow circulation and early
playlisting.
• Your pre-release ad should also make provision for pre-
order on Apple music.
• The first three days of your release are very important to
your song. The more streams you have increase your chance
of getting on the good side of the algorithm and pushing
your song to other prospective fan base. It can take your
song to Apple Top 100 and make it get to other hot playlists
23
which will further make your song viral. Use your
promotion strategies well at this time.
24
Chapter 7 (Music Promotion
Strategies)
This is the seventh and last chapter. I want you to know that
in order to successfully promote any content on the Internet,
you must have a plan outlined in order to avoid wasting
money.
Below is an example of an artiste's outline for his music
promotion
1. Record the song
2. Create awareness post
25
3. Get reviews from trusted fans
4. Upload song on digital platforms
5. Create post of reviews from trusted fans
6. Make anticipation video, post and promote with
WhatsApp TVs, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Google
AdSense, Tiktok ads.
7. Drop cover art with release date.
8. Drop song, post and promote with WhatsApp TVs,
Facebook and Instagram Ads, Google AdSense, Tiktok ads
and challenge
9. Make a lyrics video of the song, post and promote with
WhatsApp TVs, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Google
AdSense, Tiktok ads and challenge.
10. Post testimonials of happy fans from the song.
26
With this, you'll have a good result, promoting your song.
Before I go, this is an advice for you.
Collaboration is another form of promotion because it puts
your music before new people without having to spend
much. For example, if Artiste A features Artiste B on his
song, there’s every possibility that Artiste A’s fan base will
get to know about Artiste B, and Artiste B’s fan base will
get to know about Artiste A. So, there is a form of symbiosis
taking place through that method.
27
THANK YOU FOR READING!
I hope you enjoyed this booklet and that you will make most
of the steps learnt.
I believe that with everything you have learned, I've exposed
you to some of the hacks in music promotion and the music
business in general.
Wishing you the best of luck in your endeavors!
You can send your reviews about this book to:
E-mail: immanuelforchrist@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +2348153530871
Facebook: Immanuel Ozi Samuel
Twitter: @talktoimmanuel
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LIST OF SERVICES I OFFER
GRAPHIC DESIGN
I create eye-catching and appealing Graphic Designs. I can
create your art cover and other designs
CONTENT WRITING
I write thought-provoking, captivating and inspiring
contents. I can help you write top-notch captions for your
adverts at very affordable rate.
ARTISTE
I sing Christian and other pure music that communicates
peace, love and Christian attributes.
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SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT
With over seven years of consistent social media usage, I
know the tricks, hacks and tips to use in order to give you a
boost in your digital project in the social media space.
PUBLIC SPEECH
I am a trained public speaker that speaks on different subject
matters, such as: Politics, Literature, Religion, and of course,
Music etc.
30
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
Emmanuel Omeiza Samuel is a Prolific Writer, Poet and
Music Act. Born on 7th October, 2001 in Abuja, Nigeria. He
hails from Okene in Kogi State but had his primary and
secondary education in various suburbs of Abuja. He started
his writing career in early 2020 during the Covid 19
pandemic and had since written several poems and short
stories. Presently, he is a student of English and Literary
Studies in the prestigious Federal University, Lokoja. He
loves reading literary works, listening to music and playing
musical instrument.
31

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MUSIC BUSINESS: BEYOND THE VOICE

BY EMMANUEL OMEIZA SAMUEL

BEYOND THE VOICE

Copyright © Emmanuel Omeiza Samuel 2023

The right of Emmanuel Omeiza Samuel to be identified as the

Chapter 1 (The Mindset Shift)

am talking about your age in music. How long have you

been singing professionally?

thought of why some artistes who are not 'popular' are

every time do not?

Have you ever wondered why some people know how to

One last question, do you know that if you pay a blogger to

are shocked! I just hope the blogging community won't

crucify me. Trust me; I know this because I am also a

may probably not have up to 100 downloads and guess what?

You won't even know if anyone downloaded your song or

you send your mp3 to a blogger, he/she becomes the original

owner of your song. Shocking, right? Let me expose one

song, if it's not on digital stores before, such person can

upload it there and it automatically becomes his/hers.

Remember Portable's “Zazu zeh” saga.

can even get an endorsement deal with your song.

4:0 If the song has been uploaded to digital stores by a

voice you've got there, sis", "I love the instrumentals"

The day I knew this, I almost broke bottle on my head.

Let's get to what you need to know about the MUSIC

Chapter 2 (Basic Knowledge)

make as an artiste, let me show you the way out.

Live performance is a situation where one or a group of

people perform live either on stage or in a studio. We have

different types of Live Performance, but for the purpose of

this book, we'll discuss concert.

Concert: According to Wikipedia, a concert is a live music

performance in front of an audience. The performance may

be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or

by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band.

You can earn money by hosting a concert. Gate fees, Music

Launch and the likes are ways to generate money in a

You can also earn money when invited for a concert or an

occasion. The agreed payment for invitation and monies

2. Social Media Content Creation.

The Social Media space is a very powerful environment to

milk money from with your talent/skill. As an Artiste, you

can make money by creating nice covers for popular songs

and what have view. Although, the money making process

for Social Media is not immediate, but it is an eventual

result if consistency and hard work is put in.

If you see an artiste happy because he/she has 100,000

streams on Boomplay, Apple Music or Spotify, he or she is

Digital platforms pay what is called "royalties" to song

owners and it is surely one of the ways to make money in

the Music space.

Chapter 3 (Common Mistakes)

In Mid October, someone met me to design a cover art for

his music which he wanted to release the following week.

He told me that I should make it quick because he would use

to create an anticipatory post. He wanted to add some other

unnecessary things to the song I advised him not to. Guess

what? This guy is a good singer, and a music director in a