Singer, songwriter, and music producer Alex Okoroigwe, popularly known as Alex O, has revealed that he didn’t make money from record sales in the 80s and 90s
In an interview with QEDNG publisher Olumide Iyanda, Alex O shared his experience in the Nigerian music industry before seeking greener pastures overseas.
According to the artiste, making money from record sales was a significant challenge during that era.
“There wasn’t much money to be made.
“We were just barely getting by, and whatever we earned, we had to reinvest into promotions and other expenses just to move forward,” he revealed
The music producer explained that most of the income came from performing live shows rather than record sales.
“We were basically making money from the shows we were playing, not much from the record sales,” he said.
Alex O also touched on the issue of artistes being exploited in the industry.
“Even back then, artistes were being ripped off. If you know the history of music marketing, you’d see that even now, artists are still being taken advantage of.”
He criticised the record companies he worked with, noting the lack of fairness in their operations.
“Record companies had their issues too. They would ask, ‘Are you talking about the ones the pirates sold or the ones we sold?’ We didn’t make much from records, but we had shows that were coming in.”
However, these shows were not without their own risks. Alex O pointed out that if promoters didn’t pay upfront, there was a chance artistes would never see the rest of their money.
“Most of the time, there was no money to be made. The record companies, as I mentioned, were unfair. To them, it was like, ‘We’ve helped you build a name.'”
He recounted a particular incident with a distributor in Aba who informed him that he sold over 550,000 copies of Alex’s records, yet the record companies continued to make excuses about sales.
Reflecting on his career, Alex O discussed how he was constantly on the move, performing in different parts of the world.
“I had to consider how long I could keep doing this. At some point, people will stop calling you for shows because new artists will emerge. That was one of the reasons I decided to leave.”
He noted that around the time he left Nigeria, other artistes like Mike Okri, Alex Zitto, and Ras Kimono also relocated.
“I wanted to experience what life was like for a musician outside Nigeria,” he said.
Alex O also shared the challenges of communicating back then, recalling how he wrote letters to A&M Records, Interscope, and others, with only a few responding.
The artiste listed Nelson Brown, the late Sammy Okposo and Yinka Davies as part of his band.
