Bella Shmurda warns soaring music promo costs hurt Nigerian artists

Bella Shmurda says high costs of music promotion and video production are forcing Nigerian artists to focus on singles over albums.

Afrobeat star Abiola Ahmed Akinbiyi, popularly known as Bella Shmurda, has raised concerns over the soaring costs of music promotion in Nigeria, which he says is discouraging artists from releasing full albums.

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In an interview with Naija FM Lagos, the “Cash App” hitmaker revealed that the high expenses involved in promoting albums are pushing many musicians to focus on singles instead.

Bella Shmurda explained that promoting an album—typically consisting of 10 to 14 tracks—requires a significantly larger budget compared to promoting a single song.

He detailed the expensive components involved, particularly radio airplay and music video production.

Highlighting the financial strain, Bella Shmurda disclosed that the baseline cost of producing just one music video has surged to N20 million. Given that albums often require multiple videos, this makes it prohibitively expensive for many artists to promote an entire project properly.

He stated,

“To release an album, you need a huge budget, unlike singles. Because for albums, you’re promoting 10 to 14 songs all at once. It’s a lot.

Promoting songs on the radio, shooting videos for five, six songs, is a lot. These days, the least you can spend on a music video is N20 million. So, how many artists can afford to shoot five videos?”

Bella Shmurda attributed the rise in production and promotional costs to broader economic difficulties in Nigeria, including inflation, which has driven up prices across the board.

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His candid comments shed light on the financial hurdles Nigerian artists face in the music industry and why many are increasingly opting to release singles instead of full albums.