D’banj: MTN is Nigeria’s biggest record label

MTN, telecommunications giant, can be regarded as the biggest record label in Nigeria, says Dapo ‘D’banj’ Oyebanjo, famous singer.

D’banj believes MTN is a pacesetter in Nigeria’s music industry, owing to its creation of revenue streams for artistes, and also its ownership of the largest disribution network in the country.

In an interview with Sun newspaper, D’banj said: “D’banj was an ambassador for Glo for two years; my contract with Glo expired in November 2015. I am very cool with Glo.

“But the reason why I chose MTN is simple, if you look at the creative industry today, you will find out that MTN is a pacesetter.

“If you look at the revenues, if you look at the risk they have taken, they are the only one that has the music stream centre that is working. Music Plus is working and I am generating money as an artiste. I have a company that aggregates contents for music and I have always owned it even though I was a Glo ambassador.

“I was always passing content all around the network and I found out that the best people that understand what I am about to do, and will maximize it for me, is MTN. In fact, last year, I did an interview with Bloomberg where they asked me ‘which is the biggest record label’ and I said MTN Records.

“They asked me why and I said it is because when we had Mo’hits, we could say it was Mo’hits Records because there was no social media then. It was just Alaba (International Market) and we had partnership with the legitimate people there.

“But today, you cannot call yourself a record label if you do not have distribution and marketing network. And which company has the largest distribution network in the country now? Which company has shown success stories in music? It is MTN.

“That is why they made 70 million dollars from music distribution. So, what I am saying is that my partnership with MTN secures me.”

D’banj recenly launched a new project named CREAM (Creative, Reality, Entertainment, Arts and Music).

CREAM’s main agenda is to connect young, creative minds in the entertainment industry to opportunities.

The singer also revealed that he would release two songs that would feature Phyno, indigenous rapper and Bobosky, South African disc-jockey, in a matter of weeks.

“In a couple of weeks, you will hear something fresh from me; my next single is going to come out. You will be hearing two songs from me. I will feature Phyno and legendary DJ Bobosky from South Africa.

“The two songs have been ready since, but I was waiting for the platform to release it. So, now that we have done this, the music will be out anytime soon.”