The Jack Of All Trades Mentality in The Nigerian Music and Movie Industry

This is not an emerging trend in Nigeria. In fact, it is something
that happens quite a bit especially in our entertainment sector.
For example. You might be singing in the shower “I’m on top of
the world by D’banj” and you tell yourself ‘ You know what? I
can sing better than this guy’, you pick your pen and you’re
inspired to write a song. You believe it will a hit and and then to
the studio, record it and master the single and the fact that it is
on replay on your phone means others will be as obsessive
about it and accept it. Right?
Now you are a MUSICIAN. You hits the streets and realize you
want airplay so you try to sell your song to the radio stations.
Brother you don turn MARKETER. You beg the bloggers to put it
online for free and tweet about your new jam everyday. You’re
now a SOCIAL MEDIA PUBLICIST of life. You pick your own calls
and negotiate your price for shows you’re called for. You are
your own MANAGER. Now you know nothing about videos or you
would have shot it yourself just to cut costs. You come up with
a full album, you know a few things about graphics, so you are
the GRAPHIC DESIGNER . They use your camera so you get the
PHOTOGRAPHER ’s credit. The album is about to be launched
and you become RECORD LABEL OWNER of a label that only you
are signed to or will ever be signed to.
The same can be said of most Nollywood movies. You find
movies that are WRITTEN,EDITED,PRODUCED and DIRECTED by
one person…..Haba now! Only you? !! *Sigh* Why are most
Nigerians all to themselves? My findings are
Some people don’t want to spend one kobo even though
they have the financial capabilities and don’t want to pay
others for expertise.
A lot of people struggle to keep their dreams alive. When
you find people who can assist in doing some of these
thing, they charge extravagant fees.
-Most companies don’t take your proposal seriously
because you don’t have a name or reputation.
The Disadvantages here are
Because you are not quite versed in a lot of things, you
are willing to take shortcuts helping corruption thrive in
the society.
You don’t employ a PR expert so you don’t know what to
say or present to the press. Everything you say is being
used against you.
Your image quality is bad because you didn’t even know
the composition rules in photography or cinematography.
That is why we see poorly edited movies and bad scripts
in Nollywood.
What can be done to curb this mentality?
Let each person take a field and become an expert in it.
There is a role for everyone and if you want to be a
musician take vocals lessons, if you are going into
editing, take it and be the best that can be found.
Help one another.
That’s all. Peace.