Medikal is wrong: ‘Music Bi Competition’

In the midst of all the cacophony of Nigerian artistes selling out arenas and stadia and the calling out of Ghanaian artistes and their inability to achieve similar feat, some artistes in Ghana are not taking the mentions lightly and are firing back.

Shatta Wale in his usual insipid tirade, talks about how no Ghanaian artiste can even match the exploits of Nigerian artiste, Asake. Fameye muses over the kind of frustration some Ghanaian music followers subject them to with such inconsiderate comparisons and Wendy Shay asserts how winning a Grammy and selling out the O2 Arena should not be the standard of success in music.

It is not surprising to have such rationalisation from these artistes but it the reasoning from Medikal that piqued my interest the most.

In responding to the chatter about Ghanaian artistes and their inability to sell out O2 Arena and others, the rapper made a post;

“Ghana music is slowly losing its touch and sauce due to loads of pressure exerted by a certain group of people. The focus of fun and entertainment is gradually being swayed from entertainment to target/goals. N/B: Music Nobi Competition.”

It’s refreshing to have Medikal wade into the conversation with his narrative but it is crucial to note that almost every point he raised is inaccurate.

There’s pressure everywhere

I am not sure about that certain group of people who are exerting loads of pressure on Medikal and his peers to the point where he feels he needs to speak up about his discomfort and unhappiness about the situation, but regardless, if indeed, there’s such a group, then the rapper should rather be thankful.

He should be grateful and appreciative that there’s a group of music lovers who love him, think about him, patronise his work and are willing to hold him to such high standards.

The fact is; there’s pressure in every field of endeavour or business. In governmental business, there’s pressure to fix the economy, make the standard of living comfortable for the people and provide the requisite infrastructure for citizens.

In the media business, there’s pressure to hit a certain target, get audience, get partnerships with other business entities and in the banking and telecommunication business, there’s pressure to attain subscribers and offer the best services as possible.

In the music business, there’s pressure to produce hit records, sell more, get gigs, accomplish the most lucrative endorsement deals. Ultimately, there’s pressure to realise fame, affluence, relevance and dominance. There’s pressure everywhere!

Every business has target/goals

Medikal says music is all fun and entertainment and the so-called pressure group is swaying that focus to target/goals. Man, that’s enough exhibition of ignorance and lack of awareness from someone supposed to be one of our top artistes in the last couple of years and it is gut-wrenching.

In the year 2023, the rapper doesn’t need any telling that the craft he is pursuing now is business; he is into music business and every business venture has target/goals.

If music was all fun and entertainment only, then he would have been performing for free and producing for charity. Get a grip!

Music business is serious business, which requires massive investment, and every investor injects funding with the goal and target of making the best of their investment.

As an independent artiste, if Medikal injects funding into his music venture without any goal or target then he is lost and needs a whole ab-initio session on ‘Music Business 101’.

Any serious-minded artiste in the music business has targets and goals; how many songs to release in a year, how many EPs/albums to release in any spate of time. The number of songs to put on that album and which ones to cut out are goals the artiste and his/her team develop before the project comes out.

How many streaming numbers an artiste aspires to attain, the number of gigs he/she aims to have and the ultimate desire to be the best in that field of endeavour are all goals and targets. How does he not know this?

‘Music bi competition’

His assertion of music not being competition is laughable and pathetic. The fact that he’s been able to work his way to become one of, if not the most relevant and dominant rapper in the last three years is testament that he’s been able to beat the competition in that domain.

There’s competition in every thriving industry. MTN, Vodafone and the rest are competing in the telecommunications space to garner more customers and offer the best services. GCB Bank, ADB, Ecobank and the rest have been competing in the banking industry to offer excellent customer service; good value, innovative products, competitive rates, and by staying technologically advanced.

In the music business, artistes are competing for patronage, for audience, for the market; competing for the streaming numbers, for gigs, for awards, endorsement deals among others.