I Do Not Like Notjustok.com

I do not like Notjustok.com. Yes I said it. I do not like notjustok.com. Neither do I like Gidilounge nor any of those look alike sites.

Why? There’s too much crap music that makes it on to those websites while people who actually have the talent and really great songs don’t get a chance to get on the website.

For the longest time I have had a certain dislike for the websites like this. Every day you hear stories from upcoming artistes about how their song was shunned by the admins at notjustok or whatever other site they try to get on.

A few days ago, whilst surfing the net and trying to keep up with what Nigerian music is out there I realized something. Do you know that nowhere in NotjustOk’s misson statement does it say the website is dedicated to hosting songs from upcoming artistes? Neither does Gidilounge or any other heavy traffic music blog/website promise such. So my question is where did this idea come from anyway? Who put it in the head of underground artistes that Notjustok and Co exist to promote upcoming artistes?

You have to realize that regardless of all the talk, the website is first and foremost a business and not an NGO. The first criterion to be a business is to make profit. That been said, whatever means Mola and Ovie (and every other admin who runs a website like this) can utilize to make profit would be explored. Either getting paid for promoting any artiste and I mean any artiste or selling A-list artistes albums. So if you are still sending emails to these admins then it means you really are not ready to take your music seriously!

Every day you hear things on the radio like, “new artistes hour” yeah right! That’s whole load of horse crap. I can tell u from experience that if you send in your CD’s it would languish in some carton under their table there. People who get on those shows are either personal friends of the DJ or show producer or OAP or Label managed artistes. So don’t dull.

Take Rebecca Black and her “Friday” single. That song was probably the worst song ever put on YouTube. Even worse than majela’s shenanigans, but she’s made over 1.5million dollars from that’s song. How did she do it? Well YouTube is free innit? Why not upload your track and drive traffic to your song. Remember no one can chase your dreams for you.

A lot of artistes out there have over 2,000 some Facebook friends. Why not post a link to your song on facebook and go from there? Say of your 2000 friends , 1000 of them see the post and re post it to their say 500 friends each who in turn re post it. You do the maths! Even not just ok cannot boast of such hits if you eventually succeed in getting your song on their website.

Everyday some lame hash tag (#) thing trends on twitter. How do you think that happens?  Why can’t that be your name in front of the hash tag? The reality is promo companies and website would very soon become obsolete.

Set up a reverbnation.com page! Its absolutely free. Link it up to your Facebook and twitter accounts. I can’t tell u how many times I have clicked on someone’s twitter handle just from something a friend retweeted and from there spent about a good amount of time listening to their songs on reverbnation or sound cloud. That’s one more fan they can call their own (provided the songs good sha)

We all have friends who have blogs. Trust me I know from experience that every blogger needs content. So why not give them a concise bio and a link to your songs on 4shared.com or reverbnation/soundcloud.  There are blogs like towsynuab.blogspot.com, that cater to just upcoming artistes and they are always looking to put buzz worthy artistes on for free.

These are just a few examples of how you can create your own buzz for free and in some cases get paid. YouTube and Reverbnation are decent revenue sharing opportunities. Fact is no Label that’s worth anything is willing to sign anyone who does not have at least a decent enough body of work and buzz.

Remember, nothing good comes easy.  Quit sitting on your a** and hating on WizKid and his axe. Do something! Get a day job! Save up and get in the studio. Keep honing your craft believe me one day it would pay-off .  If you believe in yourself so much why not put it all on the line.

On the other hand you can keep emailing notjustok.com. One day God will answer your prayer.