Ever since the emergence of technology, the distribution of music has undergone a paradigm shift.
From the days of stereo, sharing music via Bluetooth, iPod & to music-playing smartphones and here, different streaming media platforms — which are responsible for the music distribution around the world far more than the artist who sings it can travel to.
It’s no-brainer to understand the reasons why artists feature artists beyond their horizons these days. Lately, we’ve had different collaborations of Nigerian artists with international artists — the major push for the “Afrobeats To The World” agenda.
A good sample is Peru & Essence. Peru by @fireboydml is already a perfect song yet immediately after it featured @teddysphotos it started doing crazy numbers and bagged different certifications in the UK & USA.
Essence by @wizkidayo, a global hit and what we could acclaim as the “biggest afrobeat song” presently, didn’t win the BETs award but the remix with @justinbieber did.
Here’s why:
There’s something called “reach” in music.
A working-class white person from the southern US knows Ed Sheeran and not Fireboy.
His Spotify is curated so that he may never have listened to Fireboy’s songs, the same way we don’t hear Arabian songs in Nigeria.
Artists within the same continent also use the “reach” method to permeate a region where their music suffers recognition.
Case study: Black Sheriff penetrated the already saturated music clime in Nigeria by featuring Burna Boy and the rest is history.
In conclusion, it’s important to note that the motive behind the whole collaboration & recognition move is also a financial benefit, for the artist and even the label, because it opens doors for nominations & global brand deals.