{"id":2021,"slug":"nigeria-distribution-cascade-example","title":"What share reaches the artist after a Nigerian label and distributor chain: one worked example","source":"Pulse Nigeria investigation into Nigerian streaming and telco-bundled distribution payouts, using Ycee and Tinny Entertainment as the worked example","source_url":"https:\/\/pulse.ng\/articles\/entertainment\/music\/pulse-exclusive-how-nigerian-artists-are-underpaid-by-local-digital-distribution-2024080104292887615","source_type":"newsroom","method":"A single worked example from one investigative report (originally reported in 2017, republished under this URL), not a survey of Nigerian distribution deals generally: label, manager and distributor splits are negotiated case by case and this cascade will not match every deal. The reporting traced N100 of platform revenue for Ycee, an artist signed to Tinny Entertainment, through two routes. Telco-bundled route: MTN and its infrastructure partner keep 60%, leaving distributor Freeme Digital 40; Freeme splits that 50-50 with the label (20 each); the artist's own label deal pays 30% of the label's share (6); a manager then takes 15% of the artist's 6, leaving 5.1. App-based route: Boomplay and Cloud9 each split 50-50 with the distributor, then 50% again to the content provider, before the same label and manager cuts apply, leaving 7.5. The same report gives bypass figures for independent artists who skip a label and go straight to the distributor: 20 out of 100 via the telco route, 25 out of 100 via the app-based route. artist_share_pct is stated directly in the source; pre_artist_cut_pct is 100 minus artist_share_pct, computed here.","unit":"pct_of_gross","license":"Afrobeats Wire's compilation and analysis are licensed CC BY 4.0. Rights in the underlying source data remain with the source named above.","confidence":"low","retrieved":"2026-08-21 01:44:04","n":4,"first_party":0,"columns":[{"key":"scenario","label":"Scenario","type":"text"},{"key":"path","label":"Money path","type":"text"},{"key":"artist_share_pct","label":"Artist's share, % of gross","type":"number"},{"key":"pre_artist_cut_pct","label":"Taken before the artist, %","type":"number"}],"rows":[{"scenario":"Telco-bundled platform, through a label and manager","path":"MTN Music Plus, then Freeme Digital, then record label, then artist, then manager","artist_share_pct":5.1,"pre_artist_cut_pct":94.9},{"scenario":"App-based platform, through a label and manager","path":"Boomplay or Cloud9, then distributor, then record label, then artist, then manager","artist_share_pct":7.5,"pre_artist_cut_pct":92.5},{"scenario":"Telco-bundled platform, artist bypasses the label","path":"MTN Music Plus, then artist direct","artist_share_pct":20,"pre_artist_cut_pct":80},{"scenario":"App-based platform, artist bypasses the label","path":"Boomplay or Cloud9, then artist direct","artist_share_pct":25,"pre_artist_cut_pct":75}]}