Tuface – most-liked Nigerian musician with the highest fan base

Tweet

Abuja, Nigeria – Latest Weekly Poll results released by NOIPolls has revealed that Tuface Idibia, popularly called "Tu Baba", is the most liked Nigerian Musician (13%). The next top three musicians liked by Nigerians are ‘Davido’ (7%), ‘Frank Edwards’ (6%) and ‘Wizkid’ (5%) among others.

An assessment of trends in the Nigerian music industry revealed that the vast majority of adult Nigerians (80%) have the culture of listening to the Nigerian music, irrespective of age and geo-political zones.

Although Nigerian music has evolved over time, the culture of Nigerian music listenership has been greatly preserved given the fact that the younger generation aged 18-21 years has the highest listenership (83%) to Nigerian music. Further findings revealed that Nigerians are more inclined to listen to Religious music (50%), followed by Hip-Hop (33%), Highlife (21%) and R&B (21%).

An evaluation of how Nigerians access their music revealed that most Nigerians get their music either from supermarkets (29%), hawkers (27%) or from dealers (22%); at times not necessarily licensed music distributors. A considerable proportion of Nigerians admitted to accessing their favorite Nigerian tunes or music library by downloading through mobile devices from family and friends (17%) or from online sources (19%), which may likely be a contributing factor to Nigerian music piracy. 

More findings revealed that a higher proportion of Nigerians aged 18-21 years get their music free through online downloads (40%) and downloads from the devices of family and friends (29%), thus this age-group is most likely to promote piracy in the industry. These were some of the key findings from the Nigerian Music Industry Poll conducted in the week of October 20^th 2014.

Brief Background

 
The Nigerian music industry is regarded as the heart of African music; it has produced global stars ranging from Fela Kuti in the 1970’s to D-banj in the early 2000’s. Dating back to the 1920’s, the Nigerian music industry has been an integral part of the society which represents the many divergent cultures and religions of the people.  

The music in that era consisted of palm-wine and highlife music.  Palm wine music birthed the famously known Juju music which has been popular throughout the 20th century. Following palm-wine and juju music, Apala emerged in the late 1930’s as a means of rousing worshippers after the fasting of Ramadan.

With the introduction of modernism, recording technology became more advanced, the gangan talking drum, electric guitar and accordion were incorporated into juju. During this time, Nigerian music started to take on new instruments and techniques introducing the popular Rhythm and blues (RnB), Soul and Funk. Highlife was prominent amongst the Igbo people in the 1950’s. 

Fuji music made its first appearance in the late 1960s, named after Mount Fuji in Japan. In the 90’s and early 2000’s, the nation was dominated by foreign music; radio stations and night clubs played a miniscule percentage of Nigerian music. Today in Nigeria and across the continent, the music industry has spread beyond its borders into the African region and African Diaspora markets in the UK and the US.

Irrespective of its tremendous achievements and popularity, the industry has been plagued with a number of obstacles that have hindered its progress such as rampant music piracy.  Piracy is a major issue across the entire Nigerian entertainment industry. As of 2008, pirated music sales were estimated to be at 30million. This has ruined the careers of many of Nigeria’s greatest creative minds and led to significant divestment of many multinational companies.

Against this background, NOIPolls conducted it recent poll on the Nigerian Music Industry to assess current trends in the Music industry and the accessibility of its products. To achieve this, respondents were asked 4 specific questions and findings are illustrated in the charts below.

Key Findings

 
To estimate the proportion of Nigerians that listen to Nigerian music, respondents were asked: Do you listen to Nigerian Music? Findings revealed that the vast majority of adult Nigerians (80%) listen to Nigerian music, irrespective of age and geo-political zones. This finding points out that the culture of Nigerian music listenership has been greatly preserved, though Nigerian music has evolved over time. This is supported by the fact that the younger generation aged 18-21 years has the highest level of listenership (83%) to Nigerian music.

On the other hand, 20% of Nigerians do not listen to Nigerian music. A variety of reasons could be responsible for this low interest in music generally or specifically Nigerian music. Furthermore, the highest proportion of Nigerians that do not listen to Nigerian music are resident in the North-West (35%).

With the aim of gaining insight on current trends in the music industry, respondents who listened to Nigerian music (80% of the total) were asked: What type (genre) of Nigerian music do you listen to? Results show that that half (50%) of the respondents indicated they listen to Religious music and this is higher among female (60%) than male listeners (41%). This finding reveals a huge market and potential for Religious music and artists; and further reflects the fact that Nigerians are most satisfied with the religious aspect of their lives as evidenced by the Monthly NOIPolls Personal Well-Being Index.

Other music genre’s popularly listened to by Nigerians are Hip-Hop (33%), Highlife and R&B (21% each). Fuji which was popular in the 1960s and ‘70s has a smaller proportion of listeners in current times (13%) when compared to other aforementioned genres.

Further analysis by age reveals variations in listenership across different genre of Nigerian music. Listenership of Religious music is higher among senior citizens aged 46 years & above; while listenership to Hip-Hop and R&B music are higher among teenagers and young adults aged between 18-29 years. Interestingly, a higher proportion of respondents who listen to traditional music are aged 18-21 years (30%) showing the preservation and fusion of Nigerian music even in the present time.

Still in the bid to explore current trends in the music industry, respondents were asked: Who is your favorite Nigerian Musician? Findings revealed that ‘Tuface’ topped the chart as the most liked Musician with 13% fan base. It is interesting to note that though Nigerians are more inclined to Religious music, this has not affected their judgment of favorite musicians. Innocent Ujah Idibia widely known as Tuface is a Nigerian songwriter, actor and record producer known for his passion in R&B/Hip-Hop music.

Results are not surprising when considering Tuface’s talent and hard work as evidenced by several national (Nigerian Music Awards) and international awards (MTV Europe Music Award, World Music Award, etc.) that he has received. His most recent award nomination was for the Best Live Act at the 2014 MTV Music Africa Awards.

The next three musicians liked by Nigerians are

• ‘Davido’ (7%) who is mostly liked by Nigerians aged 18-21 years (10%);
• ‘Frank Edwards’ (6%) mostly liked by Nigerians aged 22-29 years (10%) and
• 'Wizkid’ (5%) who is mostly liked by respondents aged 18-21 years (20%).

Finally with the aim of evaluating the accessibility of Nigerian music to listeners, Respondents were asked: How do you get the Nigerian music that you listen to? Respondents were required to identify as many sources through which they get their music; and findings revealed that largest share of Nigerians who listen to Nigerian music get their music from supermarkets (29%), hawkers (27%) dealers (22%) and online downloads (19%). 

It is important to note that some of these sources may not necessarily be licensed distributors, thus promoting piracy in the music industry.

In addition, 17% of Nigerians indicated they got their music free either by downloading from the devices of family and friends as well as from online sources (19%) which further highlights piracy as a major challenge of the music industry. Music piracy is the copying and distributing of copies of a piece of music for which the composer, recording artist, or copyright-holding record company did not give consent[7]. In addition 18% of the respondents listen to Nigerian music on their local radio channels amongst other sources.

More findings revealed that age plays a great role in the sources through which Nigerians get their Nigerian music. This is buttressed through the fact that a higher proportion of Nigerians aged 18-21 mostly get their music free through online downloads (40%) and downloads from the devices of family and friends (29%). On the contrary, Nigerians that are older than 61 years mostly get Nigerian music by listening to radio (36%) and by buying from supermarkets (28%) as well as from dealers (25%).

Findings from the poll revealed that 80% of the Nigerian Adult population listens to Nigerian music, irrespective of age and geo-political zone. Out of this proportion, the majority prefer Gospel/Religious music (50%) followed by Hip-Hop (33%), Highlife (21%) and R&B (21%). Tuface Idibia; a Nigerian musician, songwriter, actor and record producer topped the chart as the most liked Musician with 13%, followed by Davido (7%); Frank Edward (6%) and Wizkid (5%). The highest proportion of Nigerians pays to get their music either from supermarkets (29%) followed by hawkers (27%) dealers (22%) and online downloads (9%).

These sources may not necessarily be licensed distributors thus promoting piracy in the music industry while 17%  admitted to getting some Nigerian music free either by downloading from the devices of  family and friends as well as from online sources. Finally given these findings on how Nigerians get their music, great measures need to be taken to curb the issue of piracy by the government to enforce copyright laws in collaboration with major stakeholders within the industry. Eradicating issues of piracy could indeed help stem the growth of some aspects of the industry especially in the area of Religious music that could potentially translate into economic empowerment to the nation as a whole.

Survey Methods

The opinion poll was conducted in the week of October 20^th 2014. It involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. 1000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise - within a range of plus or minus 3%. 

NOIPolls Limited, No1 for country specific polling services in West Africa, works in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA), to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com
 
Press Contact

The Editor

Email: editor@noi-polls.com