For what feels like ages, I’ve heard these phrases , “it is what the audience wants” or “it is what the market demands.” Haven’t you?
These statements suggest that the only way for creative ideas to thrive in the Nigerian entertainment content landscape is to cater to popular opinion.
Who decided that this should be the standard? Who decided that creative minds must snuck up the demands of the audience rather than be expressive of their ideas?
Who says there is no room for innovation and artistic expression beyond mere market trends and demands?
I get it! Why all these questions? Stay with me, let's go down this rabbit hole together, maybe we’ll find our answers.
The word ‘Consumerism’ according to Investopedia is a theory or belief that individuals who consume goods and services in large quantities will be better off.
For a better understanding, it simply means that ‘consumerism’ is the tendency of people living in a capitalist economy to engage in a lifestyle of extreme materialism. This has contributed to the destruction of traditional values and ways of life.
Considering the Nigerian entertainment content, these days, once the audience likes an idea, it automatically becomes a bandwagon for other producers. It is created over and over again because “it is what the audience wants.”
Movies like Pottery are now shaped everyday to meet the demands of what the audience likes. Themes are structured into what is trending to suit the audience. The audience seems to rule in the Nigerian entertainment landscape.
Remakes, for instance, are becoming a trend for Nollywood filmmakers. Notable among them are Everybody Loves Jenifa, Domitilla, Glamour Girls and Living in Bondage. The audience liked the first, who says they won’t like the second?
The music content parlance has also become a place where trends determine what sells and doesn’t. The audience liked a style, then it is what keeps emerging.
Tiwa Savage: A case study
In an interview, Afrobeats star Tiwa Savage had expressed her hate for her hits Eminado and Durobucci songs. Crazy, isn’t it?
I mean for hits that raked up impressive numbers and won her accolades, how does it make sense? Why would she dislike these songs?
“When I first started, I felt like that but now, I think I'm so established and I'm like I'm doing what I want to do. When I first started, there were a lot of the songs that I didn't personally like.
I hated Eminado. I hated that song. When I first heard it and Jazzy played it for me, I was like I don't like it.
He said it's going on your album and I'm like no! it's not. He said, this album is not coming out unless you put Eminado on it.
I was just thinking, what is Eminado? And then he was like he understands the market.” she said.
After listening to this interview, a question was poignant in my mind, do Nigerian entertainers create content they truly want or create to feed the wants of their demanding audience?
Is content really king?
Bill Gates’ 1966 essay that opined that Content is King, is an undeniable truth. Content is indeed king. Let’s think of the position of a king that ensues royalty, authority and power.
A king doesn’t bow to his subjects. A king’s order is final and is what stands regardless. So, if content is truly king, why does the Nigerian content landscape sometimes scramble to only meet the demands of its audience?
These days, the audience set the standards for the content that is churned out and believe me when I say, the quality keeps decreasing by the day.
Another analogy would be the game of chess. The king is the most sought-after piece. The king, above all, is the only piece that can never be captured.
If content is truly king in the Nigerian entertainment landscape, then producers should sometimes set the standards for the audience's taste. The audience should not always be at the forefront of deciding what should be produced.
Sometimes, I believe the audience can't tell the difference of what is good and bad, it is the job of entertainment content producers to shape their taste to appreciate quality for what it truly stands for.
To close, I posit that Nigerian entertainers and content producers should consider creating from a place of quality art and not just to feed the egos of the audience.
Idris Elba controversy: A reminder that Nollywood needs ‘whale’ investments
An earlier opinion explored how the Nigerian social media space went agog and controversial takes erupted on Idris Elba’s move to play Okonkwo in the Things Fall Apart adaptation series. Many kicked against it —like Idris Elba is a ‘disaster’ waiting to happen.
The piece also questioned how many Nollywood filmmakers can afford such an international production budget at the moment?
Concluding, the argument, despite being valid, shouldn't be about who should or not play Okonkwo but how we can make Nollywood and other art sectors financially buoyant enough to make such an ‘expensive’ and worthy book adaptation.
