Ali Baba advices upcoming musicians on how to become successful

It’s not for nothing that Ali Baba is regarded as the King of Comedy. Presently, however, he’s more than just the King of Comedy. He’s a pillar in the entertainment industry, and without him, the industry will just not be developing the way it should. So when NuffNoiz Entertainment decided to hold a boot camp for upcoming artists to educate them on how to become musically successful, Ali Baba was one of the people they approached to come and educate the greenhorn artists with his wealth of knowledge about the industry. And because of his status as one of the industry’s frontliners, he accepted to speak at the camp, despite his busy schedule, for one basic reason: he likes to support new entertainers. That character is already known of him in the comedy sector where he carries his fellow comedians, both the established and the upcoming, along through every necessary way he can support them. The boot camp held at Swe Bar, City Mall, Onikan, Lagos. Its kickoff time was scheduled for 10am. Ali Baba got there promptly. He got there before many of the upcoming artists who were to benefit from the camp. And because he got there on time, the organisers had no choice but to begin the camp as soon as possible with the few artists, artist managers and other music industry people who were present. And so Ali Baba began to mentor the upcoming artists. He expressed disappointment at the fact that entertainers don’t like to develop themselves. He said he once orgainsed a training seminar, just like the boot camp, to educate entertainers, and it wasn’t well attended. But when he held a party, more than the number of people invited came, and that was when he told them that they preferred to come to the party, rather than the training. So he adviced the boot camp attendees that they’ve to keep developing themselves, have to keep getting more and more education related to their field because talent is not enough and it has to keep being developed. Just in case some of the upcoming musicians were wondering if he was qualified to speak on music, since his area of speciality is comedy. According to him, all his years in the industry, over twenty-five of them, have made him have a sound knowledge of the music sector more than most musicians even, and he regularly carries out research on the entertainment industry just to keep himself abreast of its trends. “There’s no luck in this entertainment business,” he declared. “People think those who blow were lucky. No. In order to blow, you must package your talent as a service, and when you do so, people will pay for it. “To ensure that your talent becomes sought after, you must sing songs to entertain and draw people to the dance floor. You must develop your talent as there’s no talent you have that cannot be made better. “Some people are waiting for people to come and pick them up and help them become successful. It doesn’t happen like that. You have to develop yourself and then present yourself in the right manner in order to get noticed and then picked up.” With his advice connecting with his audience, he began to outline what an upcoming musician must do to become successful. “The selling points of a musician are his lyrics, the production of his song, its mixing and mastering, the type of language used in the song, the song’s rhythm and melody, live performance of the song, radio air play of the song, the quality of its music video, movies, night clubs and DJs playing it, stores, online promotion, fans and followers, awards, mixtapes, live events, interviews, music competitions, ring tones and other factors, even piracy, that an artist must engage in to ensure that his song and his brand will become successful. “But how many of you engage in all the promotional tactics I’ve mentioned?” he asked the aspiring musicians. Continuing, he said, “If those things I just mentioned are what will help a song become successful, these are the ones that will kill the song. Government ban, poor production, artist himself, no air play, greedy on-air personalities, beef/swear words, absence of live performances, piracy, lack of music videos, and no radio air play. “You see, most artists don’t understand the industry. They just want to blow. They don’t think of the market which they must understand first. Part of understanding the market is that you must do songs that are for specific occasions like weddings. “If you do a wedding song, it’ll ensure that you are always able to get one wedding or the other to perform at. The same thing with a birthday song. In understanding the market, you must learn from the people before you. You must listen to your competition and do songs that will outlive the trends as showbiz is dynamic and if you stick to the same style, you’ll get lost.” He then explained that his ability to evolve is what has kept him relevant for over twenty-five years in the game. “When I started, I was able to realise fast that people didn’t have the patience for long jokes so I started giving them quick, short jokes, basically yabis, that I’ll yab someone, everyone laughs and I’ve moved on fast to another joke.” Concluding, he added that humility is very important for success. “You have to be very humble at all times to make it in this game and stay successful. I remember that when I started making more money than many other entertainers, I didn’t start being arrogant because I knew I was making more money than them. “For instance, there was a show by Satzenbrau back then that I was paid N1.5m and Fela was paid N500,000. Fela was bigger than me and I got more money than him, but I didn’t let it go to my head. So, humility is very important.”