Artistes take us for granted all the time, Nigerian DJs speak

By GBENGA OLARINOYE,

Osogbo-The National Association of Nigeria Disc Jokeys, the umbrella body of Nigerian DJs with sole objective to play and promote music at events and radio stations, met in Osogbo, Osun State, for its 6th National DJs Conference, where the  Osun State Chapter of the association was inaugurated.

The conference was attended by DJs from all the six geo-political zones of the country. The National president of the association, Tade Adeyemi, aka DJ Cool and some of the national officers of the association fielded questions from newsmen. Excerpts

What is the purpose of this conference?

The conference is intended to reactivate members’ understanding of their roles and relevance in the entertainment industry, improve their values and service delivery to their clients with a view to maximising good patronage.

We discovered that in the realm of entertainment industry in Nigeria, DJs are the least recognised and least paid,. Whereas we are the ones that promote their works by playing their music at events and radio stations. So, without DJs, artistes won’t be able to achieve their aims because they can’t get good patronage.   For instance, if a musician spends millions of naira to produce music, without the DJs’ roles,   their music can not easily get to the ears of the public,”

But worryingly, while we complement their efforts to achieve their mission, we don’t get the required recognition and benefits but they   smile to the banks. That is why we decided to form a united stand and organise annual conference where we articulate our relevance and values to ensure that artistes realise our significance and do not just take us for granted and leverage on our talents without the proportionate benefits that we deserve

What are the efforts of the association to put it on a sound footing?

As part of our efforts to add value to the vocation, the association is already working on DJs academy where members can be trained for adequate knowledge and skills for effective service delivery.

The DJs in Nigeria contribute a great deal to the growth and development of the entertainment industry, which also enhances the socio-economic development of the country.

The DJs’ existence in the entertainment firmament in the country had gone a long way in reducing unemployment in the country, with the increasing number of the Nigerian youths embracing the vocation as a means of livelihood, the labour market is seriously being depopulated.

DJs never work alone. A typical professional DJ always has at least one or more boys   that work with him and he trains them in the process.

In other words, many Nigerian youth are into Disc Jockey job.   After the training, they also set up their own studios and also engage more trainees and the chain continues. This is to say that DJ jobs are a potential employment avenue.”

The PRO of the association, Abuja branch, DJ Alex also contributed:

How has your association been able to reduce youth restiveness?

The government has the issue of youth restiveness to contend with. But with the employment opportunities available through DJ vocation, restiveness and other criminal activities have been reduced.

How do you monitor the kind of music you play for the public?

It is unarguable that it is not all music that makes sense. A lot of music do not pass any reasonable message to the listeners. As a result, DJs do not promote any music that comes their way. It is only a good music that can add value to life that we promote. This is one of the reasons we are rebranding ourselves to add value to our profession in order to be able to influence the quality of music that is worth going on air.

Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), the regulatory body, is trying a lot to curtail the trend of vulgar music in the country. In any case,   DJs, too, have a lot of roles to play in this regard. For instance, we can not promote music that promotes violence, insecurity, promiscuity and other societal vices. We care about the messages that every music tries to pass to the people.

There are some music you can not play at certain places or event, especially children party or church or certain gatherings. The DJ is always there as a professional to regulate the quality of songs to be played.

But the bottom line is that whatever music we dish out must add value to the entertainment industry and even the listeners.