While Nigerian music has achieved unprecedented global success, industry veteran Audu Maikori warns that African artists are quietly losing ownership of their culture due to a lack of proper legal infrastructure.
Maikori, who built Chocolate City into one of Africa’s most enduring record labels, argues that massive streaming numbers do not equate to financial sovereignty for Nigerian creators. “We have a situation where we have built an industry on somebody else’s infrastructure,” Maikori stated, highlighting a deep dependency on foreign streaming platforms
According to Maikori, the core of the issue lies in international copyright recognition. Songs generated in Nigeria but not registered in the United States often fall into a legal gray area, leading to exploitation.
“Whatever you’ve done is owned by whichever entity can claim lay claim to it in the states,” Maikori warned regarding the necessity of US copyright registration
He further explained that this lack of formalized legal structure directly affects the valuation of Nigerian music assets, stating, “The catalog is what? Not understood or recognized in the states. So the valuation is what? Automatically lower”
Despite these challenges, Maikori believes the sector is transitioning from a disorganized “hustle” into a structured industry, though foreign influence remains a threat to long-term ownership.
“The white man enslaved the black man for 400 years, but intellectual property enslavement is in perpetuity,” Maikori said, urging African artists to secure their legal rights
Maikori remains optimistic about the future if artists prioritize structural integrity over immediate fame, adding, “It cannot be, if forever and ever is always about I’ll do I’ll do, then you failed”