MAI-WORLD

I was anchoring a gospel music concert recently in Lagos and I noticed three of the guest artistes sang the same song. It is one of the popular gospel songs. I don't want to mention the song and the artiste here but seriously I can't really explain how I felt that evening. Most of our young gospel artistes are not learning. There's so much to learn from the secular artiste but religion has blinded the minds of most young gospel artistes. This secular guys understood some deep secrets about music success and influence. You kept shouting ministry, ministry. Can I just tell you something serious? Ministry needs influence for greater impact.. yes you read that right. Study the life of Bishop Oyedepo, you will understand how he got where he is today. He had a mindset about ministry that propel him to build value. We can't keep doing this. If you are an artiste, you should be hungry to produce a song that the world can worship with. If the world can worship with, then it ha...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: Few years ago, I saw a movie titled dream girls. Beautiful movie, featuring Beyonce, Jenifer Huddson, Jamie Fox and others. It is a musical film and I totally enjoyed the movie... This post is not so much about the quality of the movie but about a statement Jamie fox made in that movie that changed everything for me. Jamie fox and his friend owned a record label with one artiste signed to the label. Jamie's friend wrote a beautiful song for the artiste. She sang the song so well, the final recording, mixed and mastered was presented to Jamie fox to listen to. Jamie listened to the song for a few seconds and said to them that this is not the song they should release for this artiste. His friend was shocked and he said to Jamie fox that the song was the right song because it has a very very good message. Then Jamie looked at him and said.. "A song is not supposed to just have a good message, a song is supposed to sell" You see that Statement right t...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC: YOUR MINDSET VS INFLUENCE. I once read an interesting story about a little boy who was troubling his father, out of frustration, his father took a paper that had the picture of the world map on it, tore it into pieces and gave it to the little to arrange the paper back to form the map of the world. In his mind, the little won't be able to get it right because he doesn't even know the names of all the countries in the world, let alone knowing their position on the map. To his amazement, the little got the map arrange in just a few minutes and got it arranged correctly. His father was shocked at such brilliance and inquired of the boy to know how he was able to make this happen. The little boy smiled and told his father that at the back of the map of the world, is a picture of a man. So what he did was to get the man's picture arranged correctly, once the man is right, the world is right too. Amazing right? Yeah. Today I want to speak to you about your mi...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC: BE THE INFLUENCE While experience 2019 was going on, I had a chat with a friend about the ministration of some of the artistes at the experience. As we talked, he said something serious and I need you listen. He said why do we have planet shakers instead of Hillsong? I told him that it's possible they are reserving Hillosng for later. As we talked I said to him that only Hillsong alone is enough for a full a edition of Experience Concert as they won't even be able to finish their hit songs if they start singing from 7pm till 6am. If you know and listened to both Hillsong and Planet Shakers, you would agree that Hillsong is a better choice always. Both group from same country (Australia), with the same kind of music, same message even but one (Hillsong) is the Influence. As I look back at this last Experience, EBEN, MERCY CHINWO, SINACH and TRAVIS GREEN spark up something serious in me. Back to back stage Influence from start of their ministration till e...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC: PERSONAL BRANDING AS AN ARTISTE. I know this might take awhile for some of you to understand sha, but it's fine. I will keep at it until just one person gets it. I wanted to do a live video today but somehow I got busy.. I will need you to read the gist in the pictures attached to this post and understand a few things about personal branding as an artiste and how serious this matter is. Maybe not now but in future it will be more serious. In my first live video I did on Sunday after Experience, I mentioned this issue of artiste going to perform other people's songs and getting paid for it. Some people think I was taking this matter too far but truly it is a very serious matter. Yesterday I wrote a lot about Influence and how your songs can create Influence for you. In business that's actually personal branding. Your songs are your brand, your trade mark. As an artiste, you don't really have an "identity" musically without a song. Every Bra...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: SCIENCE OF INFLUENCE In life, it is not so much about what you do but "HOW" you do them. This is very important for any artistes or anyone in life who wants to build Influence. Listen, most people who are Influential in any Field of endeavors and are making the most money in those fields are not the most talented or necessarily the best in that field but they are those who know "HOW" to do what they do in such a way that commands attention. Think about that for a moment. The fact that you are not visible and Influential is not because you are not good enough or that your songs are not good enough. It is because there's something you are not doing right yet. You don't know the "HOW" yet. You can have a great song and still can't create Influence from it if you don't know HOW I always tell people that Davido, Dbanj, Olamide, Psquare etc may not even pass a Music Reality Show audition. But this are the guys making all t...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: MINISTRY INFLUENCE. I was thinking of the best heading that will capture clearly what I want to share on this post. Some of the titles that came to mind include, "Choose Your Ministry League", "The Choice is Yours", "Ministry vs Influence" but I finally settled for "Ministry Influence". If you read those heading carefully, you would already have gotten the message in this post. In the pictures below is TESTIMONY a BLW Gospel music sensation ministering Live at the Ovation Christmas Carol yesterday in Lagos. He minister his 2019 hit song; JESUS and POVERTY DON LEAVE ME. Dr Tim Godfery also ministered at this event too and I was almost crying watching these two at this event. Now why is this a big deal? Ovation Christmas Carol is a Highly Secular Event, and these two Gospel artistes brought Heaven there and glorified Jesus. When Testimony was ministering the song JESUS, I saw the entire audience worshipping, some lifting up ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: TENANT MENTALITY Honestly I don't know who this message is for but I need you to listen and take it seriously. You can not build a successful music ministry career on other people's songs. That is a Tenant Mentality. Going about singing other people's song and just feeling comfortable doing that proves you have a Tenant Mentality. As for those of you who are now converting secular songs to gospel songs, the angel that will flog you people at heaven's gate is still receiving training on how to flog you people. That's the highest level of abuse on your creativity. In fact I don't even know the right words to describe how terrible that is. That's the lowest level you can go. A friend spoke on this yesterday and said when you do this, you cut short your supply of divine creative abilities. I listened to the Gospel version of Blow my Mind by Davido and Chris Brown and I felt like throwing up. I once heard the Gospel version of Psquare's...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: THE BEST PRODUCER TO WORK WITH I decided to talk about this so I can help most of you planning to record new songs soonest get direction. Working with many young artistes lately, I noticed the obsession most of them have with the big producers. Most young artistes are dreaming of working with Wole Oni, Cohbams Asuquo, SMJ, MasterKraft, Gospel on the beat, Salz etc. Now there's really no problem with wanting to work with a big name producer except for two things. The fact that you don't have the money to pay for their fees and you are putting yourself under unnecessary pressure. The second problem which is even why I am making this post is the Mentality that these big names have the ability to blow you. Lol. What a joke! If you are struggling to work with the big names because you think your song will blow if it was produced by Wole Oni or Any of the big names, you are such a joke and I will show you why. Do you know hundreds of songs out there produced by ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: BECOME INTENTIONAL. The lectures I am dropping this season are premium really and I am doing this as a Christmas gift.. As an artiste, until you become Intentional, a lot of things won't change in your career. Every single big artiste that has stayed consistently on top is Intentional. No genuine progress or growth can be made until you become Intentional. A person who's Intentional has a definite reason or purpose to every action or decision they make. I wish you can get this. When you become Intentional, you are not under pressure to release song on your birthday. You are not under pressure to drop an album. Every action you take is deliberate. The choice of song to record is deliberate, the song to release and when to release is deliberate. You don't just do what you like or what the trend is. Being Intentional will help you see a result you want to achieve with the songs and how to get that result. Today I see artiste record song and release it with...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: NOT A PRIORITY? A few weeks ago, I made a post that I would be going Live here on Facebook to teach artistes how to create hit songs and one gospel artiste commented on my post that creating hit songs is not a priority for gospel artistes. Of course I know his kind and I handled him well.. lol The pictures on this post are pictures of EBEN and JOE PRAISE ministering at the AKWA IBOM state Xmas Carol. I choose to just share the pix because if you saw the videos of their ministration, some of will go into depression.. lol.. what's the point of this post? I believe from the pictures you can understand how effective and gracious their ministrations were. This was only possible because there songs were popular. When you have hit songs and your songs are popular, it makes your ministration even more effective and glorious. You can chose to argue it, but it won't change this truth. You can't be going around shouting that creating hit songs is not a priority. W...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:::  THE LAW OF ASSOCIATE INFLUENCE. Few weeks ago, I was contacted by a man who wants me to train the newly signed artistes to his Record Label, on how to create hit songs, discover hit songs amongst their already written songs and artiste's branding so that they can build Influence and make impact. Wow! I was excited about this offer not just because I was paid good money for it, but because of the fact that Record Labels and artistes are now waking up to the need to get the knowledge that will change the course of their career forever, making them relevant in the music scene. When we sealed the deal, I sent the soft copy of the course outline to the CEO of the Record Label and the first course on the outline was: "The Music Laws of Influence", I listed those three laws under it, and the man said to me, sir I have never heard of "The Law of Associate Influence" before. I smile and said to him, that's why you paid me to train you.. lol. I...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:::.    ALBUM SYNDROME Last year, I had just finished interviewing a gospel artiste on my Radio program on WC Radio when her manager walked in. The manage shook hands with me and pleaded with me to help them promote his artiste's song. I smiled and asked him to have a seat in the radio studio. I asked them what's there plan for this artiste's career and they dropped a bomb, that they were working towards releasing an album for the artiste. Instantly my mood changed. First of all, the song ( her single) they are asking me to promote is a wack song. Yes it shouldn't be played anywhere not to talk of promotion and on top of that they were already working on an album? You pipo will not kill somebody in the name of ministry Sha... Lol. As a gentleman, I quickly told them that if they wanted to success and build Influence in music they should allow me help them show them what to do and how to do it. They agreed and we settled for a fee. While we were still ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: YOUR UNKNOWN COMPETITION. First I want to say compliments of the season to all of you music great minds reading this post. In this season of celebration, I pray that in your own music career, you will be celebrated all over world. I pray that your songs will cause your fame to go abroad and more lives will be impacted through you. Today I am speaking to you about your UNKNOWN competition. I know a lot of us don't like the word competition but whether you know it or not, we are in some kind of competition. This post is not really about competition in the sense of it but t open your eyes to something serious. Before now, the secular artistes seem to be the ones we are "competing" against in terms of standard and quality. You know how they say it that most church videos are shot in a garden with flowers or under bridge with a few girls dancing village dance in it.. lol. The secular artistes videos on the hand were clean and beautiful and they seem to ha...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: GET TO WORK. Let me quickly welcome you guys to year 2020. This is my first post in 2020 and I choose to start with SCHOOL OF MUSIC, this is because my heart is in your success as an artiste. I am committed to see you grow and build massive Influence in 2020 by creating hit songs that will become an anthem on the lips of people world wide. By all standard, this year is a glorious year. So much will happen this year, so many new artistes will emerge on the scene for Influence. The energy for this year is right and anything is possible. Some people released new songs yesterday and so many are on their way coming out. Of course I am not a fan of just recording and releasing songs but I am a strong advocate of structure, process and Intentional actions. In 2020 if you do what you have been doing in 2019 the same way you have been doing it, you will have the same old result that kept you where you are. Some of you released four singles in 2019, no impact, no progress, ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::.  SLAP YOURSELF If you are an artiste and you don't have a YouTube channel, SLAP YOURSELF.  I mean it, this is not a joke. If you are an artiste, whether you have recorded songs or not, shot videos or not, made name or not.. If you don't have a YouTube channel, kindly slap yourself now. Please make sure you don't just laugh over this ooo.. slap yourself first before we continue. Thank you. If you are serious about growth and Influence in your career, you should start learning to take instructions seriously. So if you haven't slapped yourself, please do that now. In my SCHOOL OF MUSIC MENTORSHIP PROGRAM, I will share some powerful secret on the impact of YouTube on your career and influence as an artiste. Now if you don't know how to go about creating a YouTube channel and monetizing it, come inbox now with your prophet offering let me guide you.. Amachree Ikijana Alex Music Content and Business Coach PS:: The picture attached to this post i...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::  KILLING YOUR HIT SONGS One of the major problems I see with most artistes especially gospel artistes this days is that they are killing their hit songs with their own actions. Recently I came across a few potential hit songs from song gospel artistes. These songs were released in 2019. As I listened to these songs, I knew first hand that they are blowing songs but unfortunately, the owners of the songs killed them and had their blowing destiny cut short. I will explain how later. Truth is that this happens mostly because 99.9% of artistes don't know a blowing song and can't recognize one when they see it. I have written a lot about how to discover a hit song and the process you can use to discover the hit songs amongst your written or received songs. If you are in this category of artistes who don't know how to discover hit songs, then you should quickly sign up now for my SCHOOL OF MUSIC COACHING AND MENTORSHIP PROGRAM 2020. In my next post I will ex...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: INFLUENCE GETS THE LEAD. One of the greatest and foremost authorities on the subject of Leadership; John Maxwell, defines leadership as INFLUENCE Take a few seconds to ponder on that and see how that relates to your music career/ministry. If you still can't figure it out, don't worry, this is why I am here for you.. smile. This is simple, if Leadership is INFLUENCE, that means Influence gets the lead. Only those who are influential in their industry lead the industry and become the most sort for. You wanna be the lead in music? Get INFLUENCE. LEADING in an industry or career is not by accident or by how long you have been in that industry or career. You could be singing for 200 years now. If you don't have Influence yet, you are still an upcoming artiste to the world. INFLUENCE GETS THE LEAD. I have spoken and written so much on the subject of Influence and how to create Influence as an artiste. It is a key to your success as an artiste. No INFLUENCE...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::   STILL ON KILLING YOUR HIT SONG. In the first part of this article posted earlier today, I explained one way artistes kill their hit songs. Truly as a music content and Business coach, I am way too sensitive to details when I listen to songs and I can tell you many potential hit songs that was killed and had their blowing destiny cut short. I mentioned that one way artiste kill their hit song is by not giving the songs the needed attention required to make it fly and by this I was referring to promotion after the song has been recorded. Another major way artistes kill their hit songs is by not giving it the needed attention in the process of recording the songs.. this is as important as the attention needed after recording. Infact it is more important that the attention you give to a song after recording. If you get it right during recording, you will put in less energy to get the song to fly. A lot of hit songs are killed in the studio. This is true! I ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:::  DON'T BE A ONE HIT ARTISTE. The caption for this post has already conveyed my message but as a gentleman that I am, I will still shade more lights on the matter, so follow me carefully. Being a one hit artiste is risky, dangerous and puts you in a very disadvantage position as an artiste. The sad reality is, most artistes are wishing, praying and begging God for just One Hit song. Biko go and listen to Cohbams Asuquo song titled 'ONE HIT'. It is a beautiful song that truly describe most of you. If you are one of the artistes praying and begging God to give you just one Hit song, then you may not even see value in this post. But still don't run away ooo. Just follow me jeje. Creating a hit song is a very very very simple thing to do and I mean this. You can wake up everyday and create a hit song Intentionally and make it go viral. No need to pray and beg God for it. God is not against you blowing, God is not your problem, your problem is ignorance...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::  EVERGREEN HIT SONG ADVANTAGE In my previous post, I spoke about the dangers and disadvantages of being a single hit artiste. I mean those artistes who just managed to sing one song that became a hit. After so many years, they are not able to create any hit song because even the first one they had was out of  luck or chance. It wasn't intentional as they didn't have the knowledge on how to create hit songs Intentionally. In that article, I mentioned that PROSPER has an advantage and I would be sharing that in this post. His advantage is the fact that his song EKWUEME could pass for an EVERGREEN song. A single hit Artiste with an EVERGREEN song, has a little advantage and that could help him stay relevant for a while. Truth is your reign and Influence is gonna be limited if all you have just one hit. Whether EVERGREEN or not. If you have an EVERGREEN song, it just means you will stay around a bit long. Having an EVERGREEN song is not a good enough reason to...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::  DISADVANTAGES OF BEING A ONE HIT ARTISTE part 2.. In the part one of this post, I shared some deep stuff about the disadvantages of being a one hit Artiste and why you should not be comfortable with having just one hit song even if it's a supposed EVERGREEN song. Later in another of my post I will share some deep secrets on this EVERGREEN songs and why you can't trust your entire career on it if that's the only hit you have. Now this post is not for artistes who are praying for just one hit songs to blow them ooo. It is for artistes who wants to build massive Influence by Intentionally creating hit upon hit songs. I stated clearly in part one that one song can't sustain your career/ministry in this season. We are currently having hundreds of songs released everyday and that means more possibility for more hit songs to come out. It won't be long before your one hit start losing value. This is why you need to learn how to create hit songs Intenti...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:::  MESSAGE DOES NOT BLOW SONGS A few weeks back I shared a story in one of my articles about how a record label boss in a movie made a statement that music is not supposed to just have a message but that music is supposed to sell. A lot of people didn't quite understand the seriousness of that statement. I hear a lot of people talk about the fact that songs of this generation don't have message in them especially the secular ones and stressing the need for messages in songs. First of all, there is no song in the world without a message. It might not be the kind of message you like, but definitely every song has a message. Good or bad, but there must be a message. Most artistes who are concerned about messages do so thinking that it is the message that will make the song blow or sell. Truth is that messages don't blow songs. Of course there are loads of songs in the world in languages you don't even understand that went viral and blow even in Nigeria ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::  BLENDING NATIVE LANGUAGE WITH ENGLISH TO CREATE HIT SONGS I want to try to sound as nice, direct and brief as I can on this subject. I hear someone said in a seminar that if you want to blow in Nigeria, you must always blend your NATIVE language with English in your songs. That artistes should not write songs in English all through. I stood up immediately and asked him how come Kirk Franklin's songs blow in Nigeria? How did Don Moen blow in Nigeria? How did Chris Brown songs blow in Nigeria? EBEN has a lot of hit songs written purely in English. SINACH too has all her songs written purely in English except this new single she just released. Mercy Chinwo's super hit song Excess love was written purely in English. First of all, you need to understand that creating a hit song is a skill and every skill is fueled by knowledge.  If you don't have the knowledge of how to Intentionally create hit songs, all those theories will still not produce any hit for you...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: SCIENCE OF SONG WRITING Today I received the most feedback on my post on "message doesn't blow songs".. a lot of people asking for more insight into the post especially that part in the post where I said it is words that blow songs. Honestly it took me a while before I made up my mind to publish tha post, because I knew that may be too deep for a lot of people to understand. If you are a song writer or recording artiste who writes your own songs, you need this knowledge more. What I am sharing with you guys here is what I call "The Science of song writing"... There is also what is called the "WORD SCIENCE" in song writing but I will be teaching that in my SCHOOL OF MUSIC COACHING AND MENTORSHIP CLASS only. Now follow me carefully on this science of song writing as it relates to creating hit songs. I said in previous post that messages don't blow songs, that words do. I believe you all know what make up a song. You have heard of...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: NOBODY DOES MUSIC FOR MONEY This post is going to be the part one of my "Music Business" post. Since it's an introduction to the main post, I will try as much as possible to be straight to the point. Don't be too surprised with the title of this post. I know you believe that there are people who are doing music for money and so Everytime you say "I am not doing music for money", it makes you feel good about yourself and you felt like you are really doing ministry.. lol. Let me tell you something serious. Religion and Ignorance are twins... Religion thrives in ignorance especially deep level of ignorance. Over the years, I have had close relationship with a lot of artistes and I have watched many of them struggle terribly, beg for rehearsal sessions, recording sessions and even for promotion. When you try to help them come out of this darkness, they are quick to tell you that they don't do music for money. Really? Who do you know that...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::  Gospel Artistes Vs Record Labels. This is still part of my "Music Business" post. Yesterday, I established the fact that nobody really does music for money, however, money is very important for you to create quality resource that will build your brand. I am taking time to lay foundation for the Music Business post because it is huge. I will not even be able to finish it in one post. I know that a lot of you artistes are praying for a record label to sign you and sponsor your career. That's a beautiful prayer. But do you even understand what a record label is? Do you know what it means to be signed to a record label? If you have a slight understanding what that means, you would stop praying and wishing that yeye prayer and wish.. you can't be looking for, wishing for or praying for a record label when you have a terrible mindset about the "Business of Music"... You can't tell a record label that is going to put in millions of Naira on...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: FATHER'S BUSINESS. I have been doing a series on "Business of Music" for a while and I am happy with the feedbacks I got so far. It's good to know that you are getting value. Business of Music is a huge and very critical topic that can not just be addressed with a few articles on Facebook. Everything I am sharing on this topic is actually just elementary. As I said, I will teach the deep secret of the Business of Music in my SCHOOL OF MUSIC COACHING AND MENTORSHIP CLASS. In the mean time, let me open your eyes to one tiny secret. The title of my article is "Father's Business". I actually coined that from Jesus' statement. In the Bible, Jesus said to his mother that he was busy doing his FATHER'S BUSINESS. Now notice that this was the first time that Jesus would be introducing his ministry and he introduced it as a Business. Was Jesus doing ministry for money? No... Of course you dare not say yes.. Hehehehe. Now the question ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: Consistency is JUST the Key Holder. Somehow as I read the title of school of music article tonight, I just smiled. It sounded a bit funny to me but it spoke volume at the same time. I haven't been able to post for two days because I was busy with a client that needs urgent attention. If I tell you that great songs are on their way, better believe me ooo. This is one reason I am making this post. Just a few days ago, I was chatting with one of Africa's greatest music producers I know,  Akintayo Olanrewaju Timothy Audio5 studio Boss. As we talked, I ended the conversation by telling him to stay consistent because consistency is the key to success. I know so many of you reading this post now also heard and believed for donkey years that consistency is key. Truth is that Consistency is not the key anything, it is just the "Key Holder" ooo. Now this article is directed to music artistes but not limited to them alone as it applies to everyone in anythi...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: MONEY IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM. I am excited in my spiritual spirit because of the kind of songs that were released this season. Hehehehe.. not just in my spirit ooo but my spiritual spirit. You see erhn, the Artistes at the top are not playing ooo. Kai! Men are really at work trust me. As a young Artiste, you can't afford to not get superior knowledge to building Influence ooo.. I know you are wondering why I said money is not your problem? Ofcourse if I asked why you never blow, you will say it's because you don't have money to do your songs with big producers or even money to push or promote your songs. Notice that I used two separate words there right? push and promote are not the same thing ooo. In another post I might explain the difference to you. Truth is that some songs actually need a push rather than promotion. Obviously you think that your problem is money. No sir, your problem is not money. Ok let's agree that you don't have money and n...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: Songs and Timing I actually wanted to say songs and seasons but then I felt a lot of people could misunderstand the point in this post. Last year while working with some Artistes, I chose a particular song for one of the Artistes and somebody said that the song was a seasonal song because of it's lyrics. I get exactly what he meant but I don't really believe in seasonal songs like that and I will tell you why. What he meant by seasonal song, is songs that the lyrics point to an event of a particular season. For instance, if your song is talking about the death of Jesus, then it's Easter song and if it's talking about the Birth of Jesus then it's Xmas song lol.. I understand all that but still as a hit song maker, I don't believe in seasonal song. Great songs don't really have seasons. Choirs still sing "Because he lives" by SINACH in January, June, July and every other month. Going by what song artistes called seasonal songs, th...