Nigeria’s Digital Music Downloads Hits $20million Monthly.(See Top Earning Acts)


So, couple days ago we at T.I.N Magazine published a list of the highest paid acts of 2016 and the publication went wild and there have been disagreements with our publication, well, in a recent interview with one of the men who watches and keep records of digital behaviors in Nigeria showed us Nigerian artistes made even more than we published. So yes, Nigerian artistes are now making a lot from music downloads.


Digital music downloads and streaming in Nigeria have become the most favorable source of revenue for local musicians, particularly Tekno, Olamide, Wizkid and Davido.

The earnings are estimated between $US15 million and $US20 million monthly, which amounts to between $US180 and $US240 million annually, according to Sam Onyemelukwe, managing director, Trace EMC Limited.

This comes to between N54.9 billion and N73.2 billion annually, based on an average official exchange rate of N305 to the US dollars.

Top artistes and earners from music downloads and streaming have been adjudged to be Tekno, Olamide, Wizkid and Davido according to Onyemelukwe.

In an exclusive network at The Brook, BusinessDay’s corporate office in GRA, Apapa, Lagos. on Tuesday, December 29, 2016, the Trace boss said that about 80 percent of music downloads in the country are the works of Nigerian artistes and are done primarily on mobile networks.

Onyemelukwe revealed that telecommunication companies lead others in the music download and streaming business in the country, with MTN controlling about 35 percent of total market share with its MTN Music Plus service, while Apple’s iTunes leads the other non-telecommunication platforms.

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