The demise of touring in the Nigerian music industry

Nigerian musician, Sound Sultan, respected industry experts, Eddie Lawani, Efe Omoregbe, DJ Obi and Liz HausleExecutive Vice President, Marketing, All Def Digital were the panalists of a session to discuss 'Touring, the Live Music Business'.

Speaking first at the session, Sound Sultan made it clear that touring is non existent in the Nigerian music industry.

Veteran music manager, Eddie Lawami however stated that touring was part of the early days of the Nigerian music industry but got lost along the way.

“Back in the day, the only way for artists to connect with audiences was radio, so they had to tou; but along the way, TV came, now the Internet is here, nobody thinks about touring anymore,” Eddie Lawani said.

“Since the music bands collapsed, and individual artists rose, who could make music digitally, touring dwindled,” Eddie Lawani added.

Music Manager, Efe Omoregbe blamed the unavailability of touring circuits like Live Nation in Nigeria, as the main reason why Nigerian artistes don't go on tour.

The panelists further suggested ways to bring back the touring culture to the Nigerian music industry.

“We need to create a dynamic template that suits our own music industry and environment” Eddie Lawani said.

Sound Sultan enjoined artistes to master the art of performing live, instead of just miming to a CD.

“If you, as an artist are on stage miming your record, you're short-changing your audience. You could be charged for fraud” the singer said.