Hawkers Should Not Sell Music – HarriBest

Nze Eunice

He may be new to the Nigerian music industry but he is definitely not new to the art of music. Consumed by zeal to do the only thing he knows best, HarriBest is not sparing anything in his onward march into the world of entertainment. Speaking to M2 last week, he insists that street hawkers should not be allowed to sell music in Nigeria.

Although he was born in the UK, HarriBest (Real names: Harrison Adetokunbo Moradeyo) spent his childhood in Nigeria before leaving again for the UK, where he had his A’ Levels and thereafter pursued a degree in law at the University of North London.
In his words, “I have been in music since primary and secondary school. So in my first year of studying law, I could not concentrate. I was doing shows, travelling to Wales, Scotland and everywhere. While in England, I came across East Linton who was helping people who wanted to start their own businesses. Since I had problems getting a record deal in the UK, I decided to start my own record label.”
To qualify for financial assistance, the artiste had to stop studying law and took a couple of courses in music management and marketing. “After that, it has been music full time. I have since been travelling in and out of Europe doing music,” he quips. “At a point,” he continues, “I encountered some problems. I got too ambitious and lost some money because I didn’t take care of my tax properly.”
Fascinated by the strides being made by Nigerian artistes in recent times, HarriBest decided to come home and do something in his home country. With early influences from Nigerian artistes like King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Fela Kuti, Sir Victor Uwaifo, I.K Dairo and Sonny Okosun, the artiste seems set to fly. Though he acknowledges some Western influence from the likes of Marvin Gaye and James Brown, he insists his music is AfroNaijaSoul.
Harri, as he is fondly called, confesses that while in the UK, his music was more of pop, rock and soul music. But all that changed after he came back to Nigeria. His words: “The first time I came back to Nigeria, I did a song and a video titled No More Yahoozee. It was my own way of re-branding Nigeria when they started the re-branding Nigeria campaign. I wasn’t fully back to Nigeria as at then. I stayed for like nine months before I went back to the UK because I still have a life there. I came back again last year December and dropped another track titled Omoge.
Having recorded about five songs in the UK, HarriBest says he’s not new to the rudiments of the game. His only concern lies with the marketing aspect of the business in Nigeria. Set to drop a full album in Nigeria, the singer says it has been difficult getting the right deal.
Besides Omoge, HarriBest has released another single, I Love You Mama Africa, a song that celebrates Africa and its past leaders which he dedicates to the World Cup. He insists that his songs will celebrate women and not downgrade them or deride people.
While lamenting the menace of piracy in the country, he reasons that “the government in Nigeria has not realized the potentials in entertainment. In the UK, entertainment is the second or third biggest industry in terms of revenue. The same goes for America and Germany. If the government can just take their eyes off the oil for one second and try to regulate the entertainment sector properly, things will be fine. For example, in the UK if you want to sell music, you must have a store and when you have a store you must have a machine called a scanner which scans the sale and takes it to a central computer.”
Going further, he explains that when things are done properly, “for every CD sold, the government gets an agreed amount; the artiste gets his own; and the record label gets its own. In a country like Nigeria, so much money can be made if things are done properly. The same goes for the movies. It’s a pity our government is only interested in oil money.”
He suggests that hawkers should not be permitted to sell music on the streets and the people selling in shops must be mandated to have scanning machines that scan their sales. That way, all stakeholders can tell the number of copies sold.
HarriBest says he has so much respect for seasoned Nigerian producers like Don Jazzy, Terry G, ID Cabassa and Gbenga Salu, and promises that “all those who have been so eager to see me in Nigeria will see me soon.”