Entertainment lawyer, Tope Salami is teaming up with new partners to float a new platform, DYDX to provide solution driven platform for creatives with reliance on technology. In this interview with SEGUN ADEBAYO, he shares his new dream for the entertainment industry, especially entertainers.
You have been talking about plans to float a new outfit called DYDX. What’s the drive behind this concept?
Asking me about this new idea shows how much you have been following my updates in some of our PR outlets. The essence of DYDX is very simple. It is a solution-driven platform for creatives with a good reliance on technology. So, we can say the drive behind floating it is due to our exposure and daily interaction with creatives on a daily basis. We have been able to realise the daily problems they face and we are here with a fast and sustainable solution, not just through legal services but also business services. We have done a lot legally, we are here to offer more with DYDX “a general solution formula.”
You are an entertainment lawyer with a rich number of clientele at your disposal, so what are you trying to achieve with this?
So DYDX is a subsidiary of my law firm and for DYDX, we have some experienced partners on board. While Gbemi takes care of the business part, Adedayo would take care of the general operations of the entity while I do the push with my wealth of experience. You would be surprised that my rich clientele, with my impact on their team, have little or no problem.
Basically, what I am trying to achieve with DYDX Hub, is to be an eco-system breathing out various solutions and having positive impact, not just in the Nigerian creative sector but the world at large. We are currently registered in the USA, with key and strategic partnerships with very big creative companies (names with-held for now) and I am sure you know what that means to the African creative space. This, for me, is a game changer. I have been able to build my law firm on equity, fairness and special solutions to our clients and trust me; this is going to surpass that in million folds. All hands will always be on the deck like Dj Neptune (lol).
The industry is peopled by creative-minded youngsters, what does DYDX mean to their career?
DYDX is going to give youngsters a path to follow. It is also going to give them essence to do better in their chosen fields while DYDX sorts out their problems, such as proper monetisation issues like Royalty calculations, Royalties audits, valuation of Intellectual Property works, etc. Creatives transition with DYDX is hitch-free.
What does DYDX mean? I understand it is a formula in Mathematics…
DYDX was coined from the general further math formula, so DYDX is a general formula meant for creatives and those in the business of creativity. It is such a unique formula no one has ever found and implemented so far the creative space is concerned in Africa and the world at large because there are other services we shall be offering which no creative on the surface of the earth at the moment has ever benefited from.
How has it been pushing your brand as a lawyer?
I am an entertainment lawyer and of course an entrepreneur in the creative and legal space. With my experience and trainings over the years, I have been able to manage the affairs of creatives in all shades. However, my other partners (Gbemi Ajibola and Dayo Salami), are also key change markers in the creative sector. Their generation would march up the dynamics. It has not been easy due to my current role in the African Creative Space, but trust me I once prayed for days like these and I have to find a way to balance things up without falling off. You have to do your business right to become financially independent.
How much of yourself and services have you immersed into the hearts of the people who should be protecting their rights?
Over the years and till now, it has always been one hundred percent. The standard has never fallen short of 100 percent.
Also God has blessed us with key experts in the core parts of DYDX; very young and vibrant guys (Dayo and Gbemi). The leadership of DYDX are more at their desks, I only come in for proper directions. The reputation as an entertainment lawyer will definitely go a long way for DYDX.
Who exactly is an entertainment lawyer?
A legal practitioner with special skills and knowledge about the doings and laws regulating the creative space. It is a boring training, but we fell in love with it. It is also of note that various persons call themselves entertainment lawyers without actually going through proper trainings due to the lack of structure in this part of the World.
People see your kind of field as the easiest of the law services, is this true?
Firstly, you would agree with me that creatives are the hardest persons to work with due to various reasons. Thus, this is actually the hardest or one of the hardest segments of law practice, forget the online paparazzis, being an entertainment lawyer is more tasking than other aspects of law. I have a law firm where some of my lawyers practice other aspects of law and I also started practice as a general legal practitioner; so my current opinion or position is valid.
When you look at the journey so far, what gives you greatest joy being on this job and not the regular lawyer who is constantly being in the courtroom for cases?
Well, I still attend to court matters, reasons being that most of the creative transactions in years to come might be dragged to courts when we have good structures. Trust me, a lawyer with court room experience does better in this field. While you are at the documentation stage, you are already viewing the possible loopholes and building your strategies in case the said transaction later gets to the court room. There are various changes my brand is trying to bring on board within the Nigerian judiciary and someday, very soon, we shall get to that golden spot.
Is DYDX targeted at only established creative in the industry?
Not at all. One of the numerous goals of DYDX is to cater for every creative, at all levels. We aim to serve as an onboarding platform to our proposed clients. A platform that not only assists the creative in decision making but also takes the creative through the ropes of the industry, (which is a very special sector) to the peak and maintaining the position without diminishing.
How can your clients trust your services, owing to the fact that the creative sector is just growing and still growing with messy situations?
Thank you for the question. Trust, confidentiality, smartness and special deliveries are our motto. The society can trust our services at least from works done through the platform of our legal services in time past and currently. If you are in a business and your interactions with people is not based on the above qualities, the doom for the closure of the business is approaching. I have built this brand of an entertainment lawyer and a law firm that renders general services to clients and that can never be compromised for my businesses.
Why do you keep a physical disposition that does not portray you as a lawyer but an artiste?
My physical disposition is more of the love for what I am doing and to prove some mentalities wrong. My appearance should never be a yardstick to define the knowledge or level of responsibility. Yes, I keep dreads, but have you also noticed that different international professors of law in advanced world also do dreads. The question is: can we be more Catholic than the pope?
What does the future hold for entertainers whose rights are being infringed because they lack the wherewithal?
The future for entertainers with such issue is actually a very dark and broke future. Get an entertainment lawyer, it would always save you from all kinds of stress.
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