AML Music Business & Entertainment Law Panel: 2014 Highlights & 2015 Predictions!

Music Law Show host, Ms. Uduak, to discuss 2014’s biggest stories in the Nigerian and American entertainment industries, and predict what the future holds in 2015. It’s a fun, entertaining, and informative panel/episode you do not want to miss! For more information, follow this link.

Singer turned Entertainment Lawyer Ollachi “Enze” Holman and Family Law Attorney Ms. Unwam Oduok join Africa.

Attorney Ollachi “Enze” Holman Quotes: On the Rise of Divorces in Nigeria & Whether Entertainment Celebrities are to Blame

Starts at 18:00 mark

I disagree that entertainment celebrities are causing the rise of divorce in Nigeria. Western culture has become a little bit more prevalent in Nigeria… it has become a little less of a taboo. People go to school in America, they go to school in England (and they see) where if you are not happy, you leave. Before, in our parents general, it doesn’t matter how much pain is “chuking” you, you had to stay and work it out because of the children.

I think it is just a shift of mindset and they are probably blaming the women because the women are fed up. Nigerian women are treated like second class citizens, I mean we can’t even pretend. After a while, women realize that, wait a minute, we can do all these things, we can work, why am I still sitting down here being maltreated. So they leave.

On Violence Against Women & Sexism in the Entertainment Industry (Emma Nyra v. Ubi Franklin)

Starts at 44:00

There is a double standard in the entertainment industry. Women are getting screwed everyday on their contracts, on their representation by the label, it is really, really terrible. I know (violence against women) it exists and it is not a joke. Even for me, I remember at least a couple of times, during studio sessions, where we are all joking around and you say something that someone doesn’t really like, and somebody threatened to slap me.

I thought to myself, “this has got to be a joke,” and when he said it the second time, I got up and left because the thing is you know, you can maintain your dignity before they slap you but after they slap you, there is nothing you can do. So, I just stood up and left. But it is something I remembered for a very long time… because Nigerian guys that is their first reaction, “I will just slap you.” It is really sad. When you are in Nigeria, it is really sad.

From the perspective of the female outside, we all want to say you should be supportive, report to the police. Report to the police that will also slap you? And for the person on the inside going through it, the person on the inside doesn’t want the help. The person on the inside will tell you to please mind your own business and leave them alone. If you go and expose them or expose the guy, the person on the inside will say you are jealous; you don’t want them to progress.

On Brand Consistency & Banky W’s 2014 Leaked Threesome Photo

Starts at 53:45

My biggest issue is that people didn’t find it hard to believe it was him… he released a statement saying it wasn’t him and even me that know him, I went back to the picture and said, “what’s this guy talking about, this is him nau.” Yet, I accepted that it wasn’t him. My issue is that people found it so easy to believe it was him and if that is not an issue of concern for him, I don’t know what it is. For brand consistency, Banky W has this bad boy image going on but Banky is about to be 34 in a couple of months and by Nigerian standards that is not really young.

The majority of his fans are not Americans; they are either in Nigeria, or other African countries and the African diaspora. I just feel like an artist needs to remain consistent in their brand but they also need to consistently grow in their brand and grow with what the expectation is with the culture that their material is created to meet. Banky’s music is created for Africans, especially Nigerians, and in the Nigerian eye, when you reach a certain level; they expect you to be a boss. It gets to the point where people start calling you “Agbaya,” a grown man acting like a kid. Banky W is a CEO of a very successful label in Nigeria… (He needs be consistent and mature with his brand).