Fact Or Industry Wash
Did Flavour's New Album
'Thankful' Sell 1 Million
Copies In 5 Days?
The new spin about Flavour's album is a blatant
lie.
In the Nigerian music industry, a lot of stories
are paraded as the truth or fact. In a setting
where they are no solid structures in place to
verify these stories, ridiculous statements are
'packaged' as fact. The latest amazing story out
of the Fuji House of Commotion we sometimes
call an industry, is that contemporary Highlife
singer Flavour has sold a million copies of his
new album ' Thankful '.
Hmmm...really guys? Come on, a million copies
isn't dodo or beans from your favourite local
road side joint. A million copies means that a
million Nigerians have the new album. Physical
copies by the way, not iTunes sales. Flavour's
PR claiming that his album has sold a million
copies is a humorous and ridiculous statement
which reflects our sloppy distribution channels in
this country.
In this day, and age it is rare for a music act to
sell one million copies in 5 days. Even in
America, music acts don't sell a million in five
days, only a few, and I mean a very few. Taylor
Swift sold 1,287,000 copies of her new album
1989 in one week. In the musical climate of
today, this is a rarity. Bear in mind this is
America with a well oiled distribution and
marketing system. If big acts such as Drake,
Nicki Minaj, Kanye West and Jay Z can't move a
million copies within America's solid music
industry, then how can Flavour achieve this feat
with a music industry that is mostly centered
around Lagos?
When it comes to distribution in this country, we
are blatantly poor. No newspaper in this country
sells 40, 000 copies per day in a country that
boasts of over 150 million people. That's the
truth. Now if newspapers do so poorly in this
country, what is so special about Flavour's new
CD that will make one million Nigerians buy it?
The only product that moves that amount in a
few number days in Nigeria is Coca-Cola, and
there is no way Flavour's people will tell me that
the music distribution in Nigeria is better than
NBC's. I mean come on guys, the reason why
there is a high level of piracy in Nigeria is
because the distribution network in Nigeria is
crap in the first place. Simple. So if Flavour
moved one million, how many did pirates sell 6
million? If their absurd claim is true, then
'Thankful' should be an epidemic now.
Flavour is a great act. I believe he doesn't get
his just due. To me he is as big (if not bigger)
than Wizkid. However because he shies away
from the spotlight, he isn't regarded as highly as
Wiz. He has released some good songs over the
last five years, but there is no way in the world
that his new album (which came unexpectedly)
has sold a million. Any album that goes platinum
in 5 days is a cultural and musical force that will
undoubtedly shape music for the next decades. I
haven't heard 'Thankful' but I doubt its
' Thriller'.
Most albums that sell a million in week must
have been highly anticipated. How could Flavour
sell a surprise album to one million people who
didn't know it existed until the day of release?
Abeg, you guys chill na.
Flavour's PR should focus more on letting people
know the man behind the music. This stunt from
his camp just shows that the wrong people are
working with the superstar. Maybe Flavour has
signed a deal with his marketer to push one
million copies within three years, of which he
would have already been paid an advance. There
is no way however that one million living and
breathing Nigerians are listening to his new
album now. It is not plausible. This is industry
wash through and through.
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