The future, as seen through the lenses of NECLive
As we know it today, the entertainment or creative industry isn’t what it was or where it was some three decades ago, and it will not remain at the same spot three decades from today. A lot would have changed, either for the best or worst.
An excellent place to start a conversation on the entertainment industry would be from the beginning, before the controversial sobriquet ‘Nollywood’ was adopted to mark the genesis of the Nigerian film industry from the ‘90s, clipping the Colonial Era of filmmaking and those that followed it.
Despite these disputes of timelines and terminology, one thing remains certain: Nollywood’s, or in general, the entertainment industry’s long journey from obscurity to attaining the grand status of the second largest film industry is crystal clear.
The evolution of the Nigerian entertainment industry
With powerful storylines, crude filming equipment, low pay, and a truckload of passionate actors, the Nigerian film industry started with seldom film releases. During the Golden Age of Nigerian Cinema that spans the 1950s through to the 1980s, filmmakers like Ola Balogun, Hubert Adedeji Ogunde, Tunde Alabi, and Wale Adenuga became household names.
With a ton of innovation (what may seem insignificant by today’s standards), Nollywood birthed the Home Video Boom era of film. In the early 90s, it exploded with its number of productions, and by 2008, it had already earned the status of the largest film industry that was only second to Hollywood. But this was only a fancy title masking the lightweight productions that accrued quick gains. The market at this time had no structure. The distribution routes became weakened by piracy.
This slow evolution trend that marked the Nigerian movie industry’s developing years also existed in the music industry. The production quality was low, and there were no such things as organised tours, and artistes were at the mercy of local marketers who bootlegged their original works. It took the late 90s and early 2000s for Nigerian music to gain any semblance of acknowledgment in the global mainstream, albeit the likes of King Sunny Ade and Majek Fashek performing for boutique crowds in pockets scattered across the globe.
The birth of NECLive as a solutions lab
Steadily, the industry continued to install concepts like funding from the government to commence restructuring the system. But all these wouldn’t have been possible without platforms that work towards reforming the industry, shunning the norms, and expanding the frontiers. One of such platforms embodying these visions is the Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NECLive), the brainchild of Ayeni Adekunle, a visionary in the media and PR sector.
“Based on facts, every entertainment industry today didn’t just spring up; it took a while to build it into what it is today. Not even Hollywood is exempt,” Ayeni made clear NECLive’s goal to impact change at a progressive step. It takes a lot of evaluation, assessment, promotion, and problem-solving to attain excellent positioning.”
He continued: “The concept of NECLive is simple. It was introduced in 2013 to guide industry creatives toward a self-actualisation path where they can monetise every ounce of their creativity. But getting there is no easy feat, and that’s why we are taking things one at a time.”
“This year, for its eighth edition, the NECLive platform is here to work directly with these creatives to mentor and fund their skills. It may seem like nothing at the moment, but soon, it will translate to improved output in the industry, further promoting Nigeria’s brand,” he concluded.
Building the future of Nigerian entertainment
Each version of NECLive resounds the current industry or national problems and proffers solutions. In 2016 when Nigeria was hit with a recession from the global oil price slump, the organisers built conversations around reviving the economy utilising the entertainment sector.
That year alone, Nollywood contributed 2.3 per cent to the national GDP, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Spotlight: the Nigerian film industry issued in July 2017.
Furthermore, a 2019 report in a Nigerian newspaper, Vanguard, reveals the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, confirming that the Nigerian creative sector has one of the fastest growth rates in the world. She also said that growth in the industry was possible by harnessing digital technology for content creation, distribution, and consumption. Her statement further confirms some of the solutions discussed at the 2016 event. It proved valid three years later.
From its inception in 2013, NECLive has always immersed itself deep into evident matters to which no one was paying any attention. It continually broke the ice by constantly addressing these metaphorical elephants.
The first edition concerned itself with finding solutions for the music industry by asking relevant questions into record labels, deal signing, and mutualism between the music industry and the corporate world to evaluate funding.
In 2014, it focused on providing distribution solutions to the film industry that lacked the system to estimate production values amid rampant piracy. It only took a couple of years for the film industry to grow arithmetically.
Current data reveals that the Nigerian box office earning of 2020 stood at $14 million. A forecast of three years further shows an incremental growth peaking at $17 million. Multiple reports reveal a steady incline since 2014. The data reported for 2014 stood at $6.1 million.
In a sit down with the CEO of the organising body (ID Africa), Femi Falodun, he expressed fulfilment from the conference results.
“NECLive is proud to be part of the growing successes in every sector of the Nigerian entertainment industry. We have spent the last eight years facilitating meaningful conversations amongst practitioners – identifying gaps, aggregating feedback, and documenting proposed solutions – while also building connections and relationships with industry players, policymakers, and business leaders.”
He is optimistic about what this year’s edition brings to the table: “NECLive8 will bring more proposals and solutions for African entertainment in a post-COVID world. We hope to use NECLive Go! as a launchpad for ideas that will solve the problems facing the industry in a real way.”
By 2015, NECLive addressed issues in monetising content on various platforms, placing importance on streaming revenue. This period saw a boom in worldwide streaming even though the technology existed before then. It was also the year Orin and Boomplay got introduced to the Nigerian market. Recently, the likes of Spotify steadily inched their way into the Nigerian market by expanding their collections to suit the needs of consumers here.
Whether it be the comedy industry, market trends, and opportunities, each NECLive session comes with relevance attached to it, and this year will be no different.
Although the novel coronavirus lockdown derailed the NECLive8 set for last year, it still retains the theme Building the Future that centres on building the entertainment industry through talent management, infrastructure, funding, etc, to position it to compete with its peers globally. However, it would not take the usual form of housing physical attendees. The conference hopes to replicate the effect by harnessing tech’s power to host a global audience using live streaming.
The event on Sunday, April 25, will be broadcast live on Hip TV, as well as nec.ng to a potential audience of over 20 million.
