Running a recordis expensive – Troniq Music boss

Troniq Music boss, Godfrey Eguakun has no illusions about running a business, much less a record label, which has no huge guarantees of success. While he has made a big success of Troniq Music, according to him, building brands through media and strategic partnerships, he is not totally ignorant of the attendant challenges who could make or mar the venture.

He admits in a chat with our reporter on phone that it is not a tea party, noting he has had to cut his losses and move on, summing up the experience as a learning curve to have a better understanding of situations in the future.

“Running a record label is quite expensive,” he said

“We had so much output in the early years and nothing was coming back. I think we’ve paid our dues. It usually would take a lot of putting out and getting nothing back and you can do this for years and still get nothing back. We had to also get in the rough to find these gems, while this is a lot riskier, we had to keep trying as the most established artist wanted more established labels representing them, further reducing the pool that we had to pick from as a startup. We also struggled with getting the right distribution partners to help push our songs but we are in a way better position now than when we started,” he added.

While he accepts that money is a big tool in getting things done as a label, he asserts that it is not the rule, saying, “Our major learning so far has been that money is not everything and throwing money at every problem will only result in your burning through a lot of money and getting very little result. While money is a tool, your network will eventually provide more value.”

Troniq has been in the business for many years and has forged strong partnerships with the likes of Sony and Epic Records and many others. The label is the proud handler of music sensation known as Oxlade. With Oxlade they have done a fantastic job by propelling him from obscurity to international prominence.

Speaking further on the challenges, he added, “ I don’t know of any business that isn’t risky though. Like every other business, owning or running a label requires tact, faith in the craft, and an openness to taking risks. Generally, I enjoy the process and so recouping isn’t always at the forefront of my business decisions, if I lose money, at least I enjoyed myself while doing it, so, it’s still sort of a win-win for me.”

Troniq Music originally existed as Monkey Media House which was established in 2017. It became Tronic Music in 2019 with offices in Lagos and New York.