Nigerian Afrobeats singer, Abiola Ahmed Akinbiyi, known professionally as Bella Shmurda, has claimed that many of his colleagues are unable to fund their projects without the backing of major labels due to lavish spending on trivialities.
Naijaonpoint reports that the ‘Cash App’ crooner, while featuring in a recent episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast, spoke about how frivolous spending is affecting the finances of many Nigerian artists.
Shmurda stated that artists do not necessarily need to spend the bulk of their earnings on expensive jewellery and cars to build a brand, stressing that simplicity is also a form of branding.
The singer said he also made a similar mistake at the beginning of his rise to stardom, but later corrected it.
He said, “I don’t think packaging has to be materialistic. Having good clothes on you, looking nice, nice skin, brushing your teeth, smelling well is okay, if you know how to dress without chains. I mean some of us don’t have these things before, and we looked good. This guy doesn’t have a chain on, and he looks good. He’s not dirty. I mean, that’s packaged enough for your purpose.
“It’s because of the too much emphasis on expensive packaging that our young artists now run towards advances and they end up being indebted to those companies. And the companies have to hold their catalogue for years. It’s because of these materials things that they go into debts. They can’t even fund their next project because they do use their money buy big motor. I made that mistake too but I learnt. And I feel like we just have to educate ourselves about these things.”