What’s missing in Gov. Sanwo-Olu’s Richard Mofe Damijo-led 9-member Lagos State creativity empowerment committee – Part Two

The artist called Rudeboy (one half of former popular duo known as PSQUARE) just celebrated reaching the 1 million subscriber mark on YouTube

Ok. Good for him

Do you know the implication of having such humongous number of subscribers? Do you know that with just 50,000 subscribers on YouTube, you are on your way? You don’t need any panel of judges, time keeper and any expert who says you’re not good enough. Or one who says if only you could do it a certain way or measure up to a certain parameter, etc. You don’t need a gatekeeper in the traditional sense to get your feet in the door. You only need an audience. The audience is king

That’s what you said yesterday

I’m glad you remember

You said you would give me more details today. I’m interested in what’s missing in the committee that Governor Sanwo-Olu inaugurated last week

Something Governor Sanwo-Olu said at the inauguration got me worried, and that is the whole point behind this intervention. Here goes: “…We realized most of our film production experts and directors face a lot of funding impediments. We are intervening to close this gap and bring credible veterans who have the knowledge and have demonstrated capacity in the industry to drive this project.”

What is wrong with that? Do they face funding impediments or not?

They do but you are thinking with the same mentality I spoke about yesterday. Film production experts and directors, who are credible veterans, with due respect, belong to the traditional gatekeepers’ model. There’s a new model that is riding on the online digital space that requires principally, what I told you yesterday. Entertaining sensations are emerging who did not follow the pathway of traditional media. Because of how huge the space is, there is need to incorporate the dynamics of that space into what the committee seeks to do.

You said the audience is the king

Yes, in the online digital entertainment space, the audience is king. If you give the audience what they want you remain in business but if you do not, you’re out. Cultivating the audience is now the most important task for any creative. It used to be that entertainers were desperate to please judges, directors and others to land roles but now much of that energy goes to cultivating the audience. What shall it profit you, if you cultivate the directors, producers, labels, label owners, judges, etc and what you take to the market (read that as audience) is rejected as not fitting or acceptable? Right now, the biggest task is matching your creative offering to your audience or subscribers. With increasing satisfaction, more likeminded members of the public would become consumers of that offering and that particular creative is on his/her way. But the process requires patience, diligence, distinction, originality, versatility, spontaneity and resilience among others.

Why didn’t you simply say Governor Sanwo-Olu should have included in the committee persons with demonstrable expertise in developing disruptive online entertainment offerings, creating/identifying online entertainment niches, and growing online audiences to significant numbers

Now you get it.

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