MAI-WORLD

SCHOOL OF MUSIC : : THE HONOR AND PRIVILEGE OF BEING A GOSPEL ARTISTE.                                                                                   Some years back I stumbled on a scripture in the book of ROMANS where Paul said even though he is an apostle to the Gentiles but that he magnified his office. Paul clearly understood what a privilege it truly is to be a minister of the gospel and sincerely I believe this is the greatest of all privileges for God to trust you with the lives of men. Yes it is that serious. Your assignment here on earth has direct impact and influence on the lives of men.  Maybe you don't know this, but music directly feeds the souls of men. The nutrient in your songs will determine what the souls receive and whether they are fed with life or death. ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC : :: THE CALL, THE MESSAGE AND YOUR SOUND..                                                                                                                                                 I am currently running classes to help artiste discover or create their sounds and I feel I should share a few deep thoughts with you. I want to try as much as possible to communicate these thoughts as simple as I possibly can, because it will change your music career/ministry. If as an artiste, you can not answer with a word or a simple phrase what your message is, then you are far from ministry and especially far from music Influen...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: THE OTHER SIDE OF CONSISTENCY.. Recently I was listening to some songs I received from some young artistes and I really felt that these songs have the potential to go farther, reach more people and make more impact than it has done. I even listened to two songs of this Abuja based artiste and everytime I listened to those songs, I am convinced that this song has everything it takes to go viral. I recently sent one of the songs to a friend and he told me that the song has been on repeat ever since, he asked me for the name of the artiste so he could get more of his songs. You see erhn, one of the saddest things I have seen, observed or noticed with gospel artistes especially the young ones, is the rush to drop new songs. They are in a hurry to abandon the old songs they have released and start planning and pursuing the release of a new song. Some of these songs they have abandoned and rush off to drop new songs actually hold the key to their breakthrough but because t...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: MENTOR'S HEART I have shared a few thoughts on mentorship on this space before and I am sure by now you already know the importance of having a mentor; an accessible mentor. If you don't have one please prayerfully find one for yourself. This article is meant to share a few thoughts on how to maximize and make benefit of your mentorship season. I carefully used the word "Benefit" because that's the most important thing about having a mentor. It should benefit you or should I say profit you. However this in itself is a problem. Most mentees go into MENTORSHIP relationship with focus on what they will benefit. They are in that mentorship relationship for what they can gain, take and benefit from to grow their career/ministry. Please listen to this, don't go into a mentorship relationship with the BENEFIT mindset. I know you want to learn, you want to grow, you want to ride on the shoulder of your mentors to maximize great platforms. All that i...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC :::  HOW TO GET A RECORD CONTRACT WITH A LABEL.  I have written a very important article about gospel Artistes and record label some months back. It is a very enlightening article and I sincerely think you need to read that first before you read what I am about to say here. It is important you understand a few things about record label before you read how to get one. Please click on this link below to read that article titled "Gospel Artistes and Record Labels" https://www.facebook.com/2064807263796279/posts/2602622476681419/ Now I assume that you have read that article, so you understand that a record label is a business organization, not ministry or charity. Although there are a few labels that run as ministry and charity but that is not a standard and not always the case. A proper label is a business. Now this is important because every business is set up for only one reason, to make PROFIT. I know you have heard people say a business is set up to solve pro...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:::: ESTABLISH A CONNECTION FIRST BEFORE MESSAGE. Many years ago Psquare released a song I think the title was "ASAMKPOKOTO" not quite sure. From the first time I heard the song, I fell deeply in love with the song lol. Anywhere I heard the song playing, I will stop and listen while singing to it as well. Oh how I loved this song!  Then one day I was invited to MC an event in Lagos. It wasn't long before the DJ started playing the song. Damn! The joy in my heart erhn. I started singing the song so passionately like I was Paul of Psquare. Then as we got to the 2nd solo, something hit me. Wait a minute! You mean I have been cursing myself since and didn't even know? The solo says.. see me I dey craze, e be like say I dey mad ooo, asamkpoto baby no be so, see my head dey pain me, life looking lonely, Etc can't even remember it all. Terrible lyrics that are full of curses. There's even a part of the chorus that says "I'm going insane"....

SCHOOL OF MUSIC :::: MUSIC LAW OF PERCEIVED VALUE There are three basic laws that govern the making of HIT SONGS and the law of perceived value is one of them. I chose to share this law with you because aside from the fact that it is one of the top laws for creating hit songs, it is also the principle that drives Music Business. Every artiste needs to understand how this law works. For this article I will simply focus on its function as a law to create hit songs. I may talk about its function in Music Business in subsequent articles. What's the law of perceived value? The law states that nothing is valuable in itself unless it is perceived so by the receiver. In other words, the value of a thing is determined by the receiver of that value. If you gift someone a gift worth $10,000 and the person doesn't know the value of the gift, to the person, the gift is not worth anything. Even if the person knows the value but doesn't like the way the gift is or what the gift is, the...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC :::: SONG COVER FOR INFLUENCE. A few months ago I made a post saying that most Artistes do covers the wrong way and I also said that it is possible to blow with cover of someone's song. In this post I will share a few insights that will help your cover career lol. This is a very technical and sensitive subject but I will try as much as possible not to bore you with too many details so I don't steer up unnecessary argument on this post. As matter of fact in most platforms where this subject of song covers are discussed, there's always varrying opinions. My focus basically on this post is to show you the right way to gain Influence with covers. First of all, let me establish that there's a world of difference between a Cover, a Remix and a Kariokee. I will explain a bit of the difference so you understand where you fall in. A cover is a remake of a song done by another artiste. It often require a change in sound, genre, key, instrumentation but uses the or...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: FORCE OF COMMAND. There are two basic forces of Influence and one of them is the force of command. In my book "EASIEST WAY TO BECOMING A MUSIC SUPERSTAR" I explained this Concept very well under the Laws of Influence. The force of Influence is the greatest of the two forces of Influence and once you understand how this works and apply it correctly to your songs, it will be an instant super hit. If you use it wrongly or ignore it, even a potential hit song will not blow. I will give you a few examples of this as I proceed. Influence is Attention. The best way to get attention is by command. Nobody resist commands. Using the force of Influence on your song is a strategy that causes your song to command attention. This is very important and must be taken note of consciously in your song arrangements. Let me tell you this secret for free, a hit song must be able to command attention between the first 15-30 seconds of it's play. Read that again, the first...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC ::: SONG REVIEW ESSENCE. Recently I have been privileged to review songs for a couple of Artistes. Then I observed a few things that I want to talk about. First, I like to know, what's the idea behind sending or paying professionals to review your songs after recording, What is in your mind as the owner of the song? What do you hope to hear? Great song I guess? Lol. You want them to listen and tell you that this song is BLOWN in the realm of the spirit already? Hehehehehehe. I sincerely question the intention behind you sending your already recorded songs for review if you truly want an honest feedback. Some of you don't even have the luxury to effect any corrections after the song have been recorded. For some of you, your mind is already made up, you feel good with your song but you just need someone to boast your confidence more by telling you that the song is Dope. Lol. Of course most times when the Artistes send song for review, they want to hear that t...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:: BRINGING THE BEST OUT OF YOUR SONGS.                              Chapter Three            Bring Out The Best From Your Song This is one topic I am very passionate about. Bringing out the best in your songs is a command. It is serious and every recording artistes must take it seriously. In my career as a celebrity music coach, I have seen many hit songs die in the studio. They were killed either by the producer or the artistes. Every song deserves the best. Now the word best is relative. To some, they think that giving a song the best means paying a popular producer huge money to produce the song. A popular producer is no guarantee that your song will become a hit. When I say give your song the best, I mean that you should give it attention. Pay attention to details. Don't rush ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: RELATIONSHIP VALUES I have a few very important messages to pass to all emerging Artistes. This message has become necessary at this moment because I notice that most of you young Artistes are guilty of what I am about to share with you. A lot of you don't understand the value of relationship, you don't know how powerful relationship is and what you can get freely through relationships. Most of you send or receive a friend request from somebody, next thing you send your song link inbox to the person to download with no message to it. No hellos, no greetings, just a random song link for download. This is so so wrong. You will repel more people than gaining friends and followers using this approach. Someone who just became your friend on Facebook doesn't know you. The primary reason for social media is to socialize, not for marketing, buying and selling as it were. Yes I know very well that social media has become a global market where we buy and sell a...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC::: MUSIC AND EMOTIONS (part One)                          Chapter One                How to create hit songs Music is an art and just like every other arts, skill is most important. When it comes to music, there are different skills required to make success easy. In this chapter, I am talking about the skill of creating hit songs. To many people, creating a hit song is rocket science. They feel it is a difficult thing to do. As a matter of fact, many people actually think that creating a hit song is a thing of luck or chance, but it shouldn't be so. Creating hit songs is a skill and just like every other skills, it functions with knowledge. Every artiste needs the knowledge on how to create hit songs. Creating hit songs should be Intentional. I always say that there's only one...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC:::: MUSIC AND EMOTIONS (part two)                  MUSIC EMOTION Like I said earlier, there are different kinds of emotion generally and not all of them work in music, for example, the emotion of fear and anger. Your aim is not to put fear in people or make them angry unless there's a particular course you want to achieve with your song. But emotion of love is a good tool to use in your music. Now writing songs that talks about love is not necessarily a love song. You can even mention love a hundred times in a song and it is still not a love song. A love song is a song that inspires the emotion of love in the listener. Yes! This is why you could just listen to some songs and just want to fall in love. Even if you have been badly hurt by love, a good love song will make you want to love again. If you have seen the movie Titanic, you would be inspired to love. Now Titanic was a story about ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC ::: GOSPEL FREESTYLE. I currently have three secular Artistes in my SCHOOL OF MUSIC COACHING AND MENTORSHIP PROGRAM and one of the major problems I have with all three of them is their deliberate attempt to build a career on Freestyle. I am sure you know what a freestyle is in music but in case you don't know, it is a style that is free lol. Free of concept, most times free of message and intention. Freestyle is randomly putting words together to form a song. It's often done at a spot but can also take a process of time too. You see erhn this is a sure recipe for failure. You can't build a music career on Freestyle no matter how good with Freestyle you are. Those who know me, know that I don't just advocate gaining Influence by blowing a song but also sustaining Influence by Consistently putting out great hit songs. To blow is the easiest thing to do. I can help an artiste put one and two together to blow a song but sustaining that level of success mu...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC ::: LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU!! I just really want to inspire someone right here. I have come to realize recently that my posts are not for everybody so if this is not for you, just read and move on. A few days ago I had a client sent me message inbox to sign up for my SCHOOL OF MUSIC COACHING AND MENTORSHIP PROGRAM. I sent him the course outline and the fee for the program. He said the fee was much and I told him that after the class he would be able to create hit songs and blow. Then he said to me that he doesn't want to blow, that he's a gospel artiste and that he's not interested in making hit songs. I felt really bad for him and shared a few serious thoughts with him. There are many people like this man reading this article right now. You actually think it makes you a better Christian singer when you say "I don't want to blow or make hit songs". You are actually deep in ignorance. God wants you BIG!! In whatever you do for God, he wants ...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC ::: CAN YOU HANDLE FAME? LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU! pt 2 A few days ago I wanted to do a thread on Facebook but felt I would offend some people's religious sensitivity so I decided to do a proper article for it. In part one of this post, I mentioned that one of the things young Artistes are being threatened with is the question "Can You Handle Fame? Some people even say that the reason you have not blown is because God is testing you to know whether you can handle Fame or not. This is ridiculously ridiculous. Lol. Listen to this again, people don't blow because God tested and trusted them with Fame, they blow because they have a burning desire to influence the world for God and work for it. Dear young gospel Artiste, God is not testing you and the reason you have not blown is not because you can not handle Fame yet. That's an error that's becoming so popular this days. Oh you think all the people who are famous have degrees in FAME HANDLING or FAM...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC ::: MUSIC BUSINESS: LAW OF PERCEIVED VALUE. In part one of this article titled "law of perceived value", I mentioned that this law has two very key music functions; first is that it is one of the laws that govern the making of hit songs and I also said it is one of the principles that music Business thrives on.. if you haven't read part one of this article then click on this link below to read it. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3769228179755714&id=100000057072710 In part one, I addressed its function as a tool for creating hit songs and in this article I will be sharing how this law drives music business. Let me quickly establish a few foundation here about business generally so that we can have a better understanding of what music Business really is. Whenever business is mentioned, everyone's mind goes to MONEY first. This is the major reason why many people find the term business for gospel music carnal. It is because of ignorance...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC ::: ABSTRACT LAW OF MUSIC. This article became a must yesterday after my evening class with one of my mentees from SCHOOL OF MUSIC COACHING AND MENTORSHIP PROGRAM. I had requested for her songs before the class, then I told her that I would give comments on the song. After our first class, she reminded me of the comment on the song and I said the song was good except that it is ABSTRACT. When she asked that I explain what I meant, I simply told her not to worry because it is a general problem with Nigerian songs and that I would teach her about it later in the class. I could remember last month, two Raggae gospel Artistes sent me their songs for review and I also noticed the same thing and told them their songs were abstract. They didn't quite get it. For some this might be a complicated subject but if you have been following my school of music articles, you shouldn't be too lost Sha.. what does it mean for songs to be abstract? It means that you are using wo...

SCHOOL OF MUSIC ::: PROTECT YOUR VISION AND YOUR GRACE. It is important that you realize that everyone in music ministry is not going the same place with you and definitely don't have the same vision and grace with you. Therefore you can not behave the same way everyone behaves. Your behavior, dedication, commitment and action should be guided by your own vision and grace. Understand this and be conscious of it. Many years ago when I started my music journey, I joined a music group to learn and grow my singing skill. There was a guy in this group who sings beautifully well and I always admired him and wanted to be like him. But I noticed that he's always late to rehearsal whereas I am always the first person to get to rehearsal. One day I asked him his vision for his music career, and he told me that he just wanted to sing and be on TV. I was a bit confused so I asked him to explain more. He now said he knows he can sing, so he wants to be on TV so that when he is walking on ...