Nigerian street-pop artiste Oluwafemi Oladapo Oko-Eko, popularly known as Slimcase, has said emerging artistes now face major financial challenges in promoting their music and gaining visibility in the Nigerian music industry.

Slimcase made the claim during a recent interview with Echo Room, where he discussed the rising cost of music promotion and its effect on upcoming artistes.

According to the artiste, properly promoting a single song in Nigeria can now cost as much as ₦265 million, affirming that $200,000 is no longer enough to make a song successful in the current music industry.

Slimcase attributed the rising cost of music promotion partly to the growth of influencer culture. He explained that dancers and content creators who previously approached artistes for songs now charge substantial amounts to feature their music in online content.

“Back in the day, dancers flooded artists’ DMs. Now you have to pay them big, even content creators. $200,000 is not enough to blow a song now,” Slimcase said.

The “Otunba Lamba” crooner said the cost of promotion has contributed to the continued dominance of established artistes, while many upcoming artistes struggle to get their music heard.

“And that is why you hear the same artist and sound for over 20 years, while many upcoming artists remain unheard,” he added.

Slimcase called on music executives and other industry stakeholders to consider the financial challenges faced by emerging artistes and address the rising cost of music promotion.

He also urged Nigerians to support upcoming artistes by listening to their music directly rather than relying solely on influencers and mainstream media to determine what they listen to.