I think it will not be farfetched or a stretch if I say that new media and social media is responsible for the reawakening and revolution seen in Nigeria and Africa’s contemporary music industry. Indeed, the history of Nigeria’s music industry is incomplete without great respect shown to the digital media brand owners who made the world pay attention to Nigeria/Africa’s music industry.
Media brands such as Africanhiphop.com, Museke.com, Notjustok.com, Truspot.com, Jaguda.com,360nobs.com,Ladybrille.com (owned by yours truly), Bellanaija.com, DJmightymike.net, Ghanamusic.com, Addistunes.com, Iwantairplay.com, Gidilounge.com and the list goes on of incredible African owned digital companies who have given the music industry a jolt.
For 2012, one of the digital media companies that impressed me over and over again, was Factory 78 operated by DJ Lanre Davies and Adesope Olajide.
They win the Award for AML Media Brand of the year!
Factory 78 kept their coverage Pan African and European, albeit they too had a heavy focus on Nigeria’s music industry. Their content was also very rich, stayed on message, was respectful, informative, revealing, exclusive and entertaining.
In a day an age where you see digital media brands competing fiercely for attention, some have diverted their core offerings to now include run of the mill news to increase more traffic, which has yielded in a bit of a dilution of content and brand strength. In contrast, Factory 78 has shown it is about well curated content that is delivered in an engaging and interactive way.
They have evolved to also become a platform where they break new artists. They have also shown they are the go to brand for visually capturing the emotions, in real time, of the interviewees they interview and bringing the best of the best visual content to the world, online.
In 2013, I anticipate Factory 78 will possibly launch a Nollywood arm of their media online TV company. There is a huge increase in Nollywood premieres in the UK, and an insatiable appetite of Nollywood fans, worldwide, to understand Nollywood. The problem is no one is capturing the content providers in Nollywood and industry professionals. To the degree they do, there is a clear lack of knowledge both in the industry they discuss and the skills to conduct quality interview. I think Factory 78 will step forward and fill that void,and they already are dropping hints with some of their coverage.
Voila! That’s it.
Do you have a brand you think should have been AML Media Brand of the Year? (Do share!)
CHECK OUT SOME FACTORY 78 INTERVIEWS
-Uduak
Nollywood Coverage
Politics
Music
