Top 5 Nigerian Artistes that signed a deal with International Labels.
Nigerian Music Industry was like an undiscovered land waiting for explorers to find. When the likes of D’banj, Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy started putting Nigeria on the global map, International Labels started taking notice.
We compiled a list of our top 5 Nigerian artists who have signed deals with international labels.
Wizkid
Wizkid signed a multi-album deal with RCA Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music in 2017. The deal came a few years after his exit from EME Records and the establishment of Starboy Entertainment.
Immediately after his deal with Sony Records, he released his third studio album, “Sounds from the Other Side’.
Davido
Just like his music rival, Wizkid, Davido is signed to Sony Music through RCA Records. he was the first of Nigerian artists to be signed to the international label.
He joined the label in 2016 and then went on to establish his own record label, Davido Music Worldwide which houses artistes like Peruzzi, Mayorkun, Dremo, Yonda amongst others.
In the same year as his new deal, Davido released an EP, Son of Mercy but the EP didn’t fare well in the market due to the change of sound and music style.
In 2017, Davido renegotiated his deal with Sony due to creative issues and went on to release of his greatest hit songs, “If” and “Fall”.
Tiwa Savage
Tiwa Savage entrance into an International Label was in 2019. The “Malo” singer had been with Mavin records for seven years but left the label the same year she joined Motown Records a subsidiary of Universal Music where she signed a seven-year publishing and distribution deal.
Though in 2016, Tiwa Savage signed a management and publishing deal with Roc Nation founded by American rapper, Jay Z.
After joining Universal Music, she released “49-99”, then “Attention” and “Owo mi da”.
Burna Boy
Burna Boy was formerly signed to Nigerian Label, Aristokrat Records but left them in 2014. He Burna Boy signed with Bad Habit/Atlantic Records in the United States and Warner Music Group internationally in 2017.
He also released his studio album in 2017 “Outside” to celebrate his major-label debut.
He also signed a publishing deal with Universal records in 2018. In 2019, Burna Boy spoke on the dangers of jumping into an International deal without proper guidelines.
Olamide
Olamide is one of the few Nigerian artistes to boast of owning a successful record label. Olamide established his record label, YBNL in 2012.
The Label groomed artists like Lil Kesh, Adekunle Gold, Viktoh, Chinko Ekun, Fireboy DML. He recently signed a joint venture deal with International Label and DIstribution company, Empire.
The deal sees him any other artist signed to YBNL enjoy their music distributed internationally.