Barely three months to the 25th anniversary of his survival from a near-fatal road crash, Yinka Ayefele is opening up to digital options and expanding his fan base to ‘Gen Z’. In this interview with Friday Treat, he speaks about his collaboration with Ckrowd.com digital platform, concerns about internet piracy, his upcoming album, and how he has scaled the odds of disability to balance his music career, broadcast company and family life. Excerpts:
Your concerts and events are usually streamed on social media to your fans. How is your collaboration with Ckrowd.com expected to reach them better?
I had planned to stage a live concert for the 25th anniversary. However, not all my fans can attend the live concert. That is why I bought into this idea of e-concert. It will enable all my fans around the world who cannot travel down, to witness the concert.
Would you say this collaboration is to promote Ckrowd?
It is a mutually beneficial partnership. Ckrowd.com has been in existence, and Yinka Ayefele has been existing before now. We are just collaborating to make it bigger.
What led to your partnership with Ckrowd?
I made some observations in recent times. Whenever I go to perform at a wedding, the parents of the couple are the ones who are fans of Yinka Ayefele, the couple and other youths are more inclined to hip hop and Afrobeats. I have tried singing hip hop, but it did not appeal to them much. My aim now is to promote myself through the Tungba music that I am known for, the way Fela was Afrobeats and was well-known for it. I want this generation to know Tungba, Alujo, heavy percussive music through Yinka Ayefele. I have been singing before many of the youths were born. I want to introduce them to my music by all means. I want them to know what Yinka Ayefele does and what he stands for, and why their parents prefer to invite me for their functions. Ckrowd has the digital platform to help me achieve that.
In addition, technology is changing. My first few albums, my marketer used to bring the proceeds from sales to me in the boot of his car. Internet banking has changed that. Technology has affected the sales of my CDs too. There is a lot of piracy. There are people offering my music for download on the internet who are not even affiliated to me. The profit from their activities is not coming to me. Going digital is one of the ways to continue making profit from my music. I used to sell over 3 million CDs for my albums in the past. Last album was about 600,000. The marketers observed that many of the people are now downloading the songs from the internet, from sources that are not affiliated to us. I am not the only one experiencing it. Other artistes and film makers are too. Most of the successful artistes rely on concerts to make their money. They stage big events and people pay to get in. The youths who attend those events do not really reckon with some of us. They prefer hip hop artistes from their own generation to the likes of King Sunny Ade, Baba Obey [Ebenezer Obey], or Yinka Ayefele.
How will the older generation who are not so tech-savvy get to enjoy your collaboration with Ckrowd?
The older people have youths around them who are on these digital platforms. They can easily say, “Mummy, look at Yinka Ayefele performing,” and the older people will get to see the contents that way.
Will there be other events to mark the anniversary apart from the digital music tour?
We are doing this because of the pressure from fans and the support from Ckrowd. I do not think I will be doing any other thing besides the activities Ckrowd.com has planned. Sunday 25th will be strictly performance. Woli Agba will perform, and there will be other performances to support the event and make it a memorable one.
How have you been able to strike the balance between music, broadcasting and your personal life?
It is not easy, but I have decided to always keep myself busy because of my condition. Some people may ask what my condition is. Like I usually tell those who are close to me, I am in 24-hours pain. I do not like sitting down thinking about what I am passing through. Instead, I keep myself busy with activities. It makes it easier for me to achieve more. I go for musical shows Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays; and Mondays through Thursdays, I attend to my radio stations, my family, my staff and my friends. Basically, I spend more time on my media organizations, covering the south-west states in Nigeria.
We have had Bitter Experience, Sweet Experience, Manifestation and other albums from you. What are we to expect this 25th anniversary?
I am working on an album titled So Far, So Good. It is going to be very special. 25 years is very significant.
What advice do you have for youngsters aspiring to venture into music like you?
What I noticed recently is everybody trying to become a musician. All of us cannot go the same way and follow the same trend. I usually advise the youths, first discover what you have in you and unlock the potential. Then work on it with prayer. Do not say because Yinka Ayefele plays music, you want to play music. Do not say because King Sunny Ade is playing music you want to play music. If it is not your way, don’t do it because someone else is doing it. You can emulate, that is if you have the potential in you.
If you can discover yourself, you will be yourself. Everybody has their own potential in them already. I never knew I would be a musician. I enjoy broadcasting more than any other thing. I started with Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Ibadan, as a broadcaster. I never knew I would end up being a musician. I only believed in creating jingles and certain things like that. After releasing Bitter Experience and seeing the response, I put in more effort to turn it into a fortune. Up until then, I saw myself more as a broadcaster than a musician.
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