The last decade has been a wild ride in Nigerian music. Stars of old like Tuface and Psquare have given way to the new lords of the land in Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy. Even more telling, however, has been the subtle but now impossible to ignore the rise of independent artists. To tell the story of the rise of independent music properly, we must first start with record labels.

Record Labels in Nigeria

Music is one of Nigeria's biggest exports. From the pioneering work of Fela Kuti to the exploits of the current generation, music has always been one of Nigeria's biggest exports. It all would've never happened without record labels.

Labels like Premier Music and Island Records dominated the 1970s. By the 1990s and 2000s, labels like Kennis Music had taken over the industry. Names like Tuface and Eedris Abdulkareem come to mind. All that dominance began to fade with the arrival of social media.

With the arrival of social media, artists grew bolder and demanded more. This led to contract disputes, which in turn led to artists leaving the labels and launching their own recording companies. All of a sudden, record labels were no longer the gatekeepers to success in Nigerian music.

Indie Music in Nigeria

The decline of record label influence in Nigerian music has by no means made indie music a walk in the park. There are three major challenges indie artists face in Nigeria. First, all the funding and work required to produce music is shouldered by the artist.

Labels usually provide a team and a big budget to let the artist focus completely on music. For upcoming artists, they must do it themselves.

Once an indie artist manages to produce good music, distribution is the next big hurdle. Again, record labels would usually do all the legwork, but indie artists have no such backing. It falls to the artist, yet again, to figure out a way to promote their music. This is the second problem. The third problem is a little less obvious.

Indie music in Nigeria is on the rise and has spawned the careers of many indie artists.

Afrobeat is the ruling genre in Nigeria, and the most profitable. Many indie artists play a different kind of sound. This limits their appeal to a very niche audience, as opposed to the nationwide attention their afrobeat counterparts get.

It’s so intimidating that some rappers have even temporarily switched genres just to get the fans moving and the money flowing. Blaqbonez is a good example of this.

On the flip side, it's more possible than ever to succeed as an indie artist in Nigeria. As artists began to fight their parent record labels, it became common to see an artist achieve some success and veer off to start their label. This led to the birth of several new, smaller labels and the decline of the older, larger ones.

Such is the magnitude of this shift that, among the traditional record labels, only Chocolate City, Mavins, and X3M are still standing strong. In place of the old guard, we now have several smaller labels run by artists who made it big, then refused to stay at their original labels. In the chaos, indie music has thrived.

Social media and the internet have eased the burden of distribution by miles and made life much easier for indie artists. Artists can now find their niche online and make music they love making, instead of deferring to a genre just because of the commercial benefits attached to it.

Some of these alternative sounds have become solid fan favorites. To get a better image of indie music in Nigeria, let’s discuss some examples.

Examples of Nigerian Indie Artists

Success story: Show Dem Camp

Show Dem Camp feat. Buju - Do Me Nice (Official Video)

Show Dem Camp is a true Nigerian indie success story. Made up of a rapper duo named Wale Davis and Olumide Ayeni, Show Dem Camp has steadily risen in popularity over the years. It's been anything but an easy ride, though.

Early on, the duo decided to go it alone and form a small label of their own. They released their first project, Clone Wars Vol. 1, in 2010 to some acclaim. Twelve years later, they've become a household name in the Nigerian music industry. They get more than 350,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and have gotten millions of streams on some of their songs.

They've featured popular rap artists like Ladipoe and big afrobeat crooners like Burna Boy. In all this, they've stayed independent and used their label to search for talents like themselves who need help.

Show Dem Camp used social media and digital platforms to grow their music to great effect, but they didn't stop there. To foster a bond with their fans, they started a series of live shows called the Palmwine Sessions which might be smaller than the massive shows organized by the big names, but has given them a rock-solid base of fans they can always rely on. Their tactful use of both social media and live shows is one that indie artists all over the country will have to emulate.

Indie artists are a global community of music creators. Take the time to checkout music world wide and you will find there's a music scene for everyone.

One to watch: Warsheep

Daniel Ogidi, stage name Warsheep, has not attained the heights of our previous examples, but he's one of my personal favorites. Warsheep released his first single called Wilting Rose in 2018. Four years later, he's floating at around 230 listeners per month with up to 28,000 streams on Spotify in 2022.

Warsheep, like many indie artists, does not conform to the popular afrobeat norm in Nigeria. Instead, his alternative music appeals to a much more niche audience. The young artist knows that his music choice is probably not as commercially rewarding as afrobeat, but he's stuck to his guns so far.

Will he follow the path blazed by Show Dem Camp and achieve success as an indie artist, or will he catch the eye of a label somewhere and sign with them? Either way, Warsheep seems destined for success.

Final Thoughts

As much as indie music is growing in Nigeria, record labels still play a big part in the whole journey. Most artists receive some sort of help from them before going on to make it big. Only a few artists can stay indie throughout their careers with many of them eventually getting signed, or launching a label of their own. The record labels are no longer the lords of the industry, but indie artists still have a long way to go.

That said, I'm sure their time is near.