If information reaching us is anything to go by, then the Nigerian music industry might have to brace itself for this. Nigeria’s mega pop twins, P-Square, have allegedly concluded plans for the marketing, duplication and distribution of their new album by a Nigerian marketer (names withheld) in exchange of a sum of N50m.
According to our sources, the twins are alleged to have received a cheque for the sum of N40m already out of the entire N50m sum agreed. It is a common practice for artistes to sign marketing deals and relinquish distribution and duplication rights to marketers, especially Alaba based ones.
Their last album, “Game Over”, was sold to Tjoe Enterprise, a major Alaba marketer, for nationwide distribution for an alleged sum of N10m. It is of no doubt that the value of the boys has since appreciated between late 2007 when they released “Game Over” having headlined gigs and major concerts within and outside the country, increasing fan bases all across Africa and gradually becoming Africa’s Michael Jackson since their performances now cause girls to faint in admiration of their skill and looks.
Only last week, the twins released a brand new South African shot video exclusively to MTV. The video, according to tradition, was directed by manager cum elder brother, Jude Okoye. It’s titled “Danger”. The Okoye music trio have managed to successfully keep their music business within family, running a label >Square Records= exclusively for the P-Square brand.
The twins openly brag about their conquering all of Africa except the four Northern African countries: Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
By the time they play in these countries, they say they would be done with Africa, and set for other continental conquests.
From attending a small Catholic school, St. Mulumba College, in Jos, the boys have advanced in life, releasing their first album “Last Nite” in 2003, on Timbuk2 Music Label. Later, the dance duo hit broader limelight with their “Senorita” dance steps in their second album which they titled, “Get Squared”, in 2005, after which the boys have remained permanent delight.
Paul, the reserved of the two, seems to have overtaken Peter in terms of looks since he started spotting the dreads. Peter, on the other hand, has grown from the young dude of yesterday to a recklessly tattooed young father, whose son was delivered by Lola Omotayo.
The twins’ success is coming in the wake of the recent hunger strike and “No music day” embarked on by aggrieved members of the different music bodies in the country. The actions were in protest of the increasing level of piracy of musical works in Nigeria and its (piracy) negative impact on returns on music investments. Of course, the duo were visibly absent at the rally, just like many of their fellow A-list colleagues.
In an interview granted to a national daily, P-Square explained how they get around the piracy issues and maximise profit. They reportedly said, “What we do is that we strike a deal in Nigeria, go to Ghana and strike a deal, then to Gabon, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda. In Nigeria, we have Tjoe. What we did for the album in Nigeria was that we calculated how much 10 million copies was worth and the marketer paid us straight away. That’s how we do our business.
“That’s why you can never hear any story that P-Square is having problem with any marketer. The album sold a million copies in four days. That’s the audio. But the surprising part of it is that the day we released the videos, the guy printed just 1.5 million copies and sold all the same day,” they said.
Although little is known about the details of this new album, the duo are said to have featured 2Face on one of the tracks contained in the album as they eye an October, 2009 release. Their last album, released in 2007, is reported to have sold over 10 million copies worldwide...By Lolade Sowoolu
