Film director and photographer Dammy Twitch has spoken out on one of the most frustrating disconnects in Nigeria’s creative industry. The reason why Nollywood filmmakers, even those with personal relationships with popular artists, cannot freely use Afrobeats songs in their productions.
Speaking on the Afropolitan podcast, Twitch went straight to the root of the problem.
“I think because people have sold their song already, it gets to a point where I want to use this song for my film, for example, I can’t afford it because they’ve signed some distribution deal or some publishing deal with some company somewhere, and you can’t even have a conversation, even if the person is my friend.”
Once an artist signs over their music to a third-party publishing or distribution company, the ability to negotiate directly collapses, regardless of how close the relationship is. Twitch described the current state of things bluntly.
“So that is a major factor in our problems because these artists don’t own the songs. So that collaboration for now is at a very weird place.”
The cost barrier makes it worse. According to Twitch, licensing fees for mainstream Afrobeats tracks sit completely out of reach for independent filmmakers, leaving the option open only to productions backed by major studios.
“Not until a big studio comes to support your film, you might be able to afford these songs, but if you’re mostly independent filmmakers, the independent scene won’t let us afford this thing.”