How UnitedMasters Intends To Empower Independent Nigerian Artistes

In Nigeria’s $2 billion industry, where artistes like Rema have gained immense success in the international space with the backing of their record labels, independent artiste are struggling to thrive. Lojay, a Nigerian independent artiste who rose to fame with the release of his hit single ‘Monalisa,’ disclosed earlier in the year that it’s hard thriving as an independent artiste.

Steve Stoute, UnitedMasters Inc. Founder & CEO, disclosed that his distribution franchise company is starting its operations in Nigeria to empower these independent African music creators, who have no label support.

“When I started ideating for UnitedMasters, I wanted to build a platform that gave artistes the right to make, distribute music, own their music. You can call it a record company in their pocket, with all the services a record company was built to provide.” He revealed this at a press conference in Lagos, Nigeria, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

In a panel session with Joey Akan, a multi-award-winning music journalist, Stoute reiterated the importance of creatives owning their craft and shared his vision of artistes not exchanging ownership for stardom and visibility. In his words, UnitedMasters is a record label at artistes disposal that enables them to access playlisting, partnerships and provides distribution at a subsidised fee.

At a time when the Nigerian music industry is gaining global traction, and Nigerian artistes are selling out stadiums and shutting down arenas worldwide while topping international charts, Stoute believes that this is enough reason to focus on the Nigerian market and the unique sound it creates. He opines that his technology platform, which empowers over 1.9million global independent artists, has the potential to launch the next generation of Nigerian stars.

UnitedMasters’ VP of Music and Marketing, David Melhado, buttressed this as he further disclosed that the music technology company is making impactful partnerships to achieve its goals in the Nigerian market.

“We are building relationships, we’re asking questions. What are the needs of the artistes, and what are the things that they feel they need to be successful? We’ve partnered with Sarz in the market. We see him as a true catalyst and the ideal partner to what we’re doing. Sarz has built an amazing track record of developing artistes and shaping the sounds that we love today, globally,” he told Netng.

Sarz, Nigeria’s leading music producer, attested to UnitedMasters efficiency as he believes that they have been the bridge for upcoming talents to achieve their global dreams. However, Sarz is taking it a step further through his academy, Sarz Academy, where he develops talents.

“One thing that we are doing that most people are not doing is artiste development, these artistes are amazing, but I think they need to go through artiste development before we present them to the global stage, and that’s why we are invested in doing the groundwork so they can be solid when they are out,” he disclosed at the press conference.

For him, a successful partnership with UnitedMasters goes beyond the superficial, it’s about the talents and what they stand to gain by partnering with the brand he has chosen to collaborate with.

“Success to me, as regards this partnership, means just being a blessing to other people and seeing emerging talents achieve everything I have and more, in a way shorter time than I have. I would really love people from this partnership, emerging talents, to benefit from this partnership, and be able to do what I’m doing right now on their own terms in a couple of years,” Sarz told Netng.

With their partnership with industry giants like Google, TikTok, Apple, and the like, the distribution technology company plans to discover, develop and empower the next generation of African artistes. Aside from Nigeria, the technology company plans to seek talent across Africa, including countries, like Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa.