Thursday, February 28, 2013

iROKOtv CEO Jason Njoku: "Nollywood Films Try to Tell Africa's Story"


The wunderkind on how he helped the movies reach a global community


Dubbed the “Netflix of Africa” iROKOtv has officially brought Nollywood films to the Internet and to viewers all around the globe. iROKOtv CEO Jason Njoku’s 3-year-old company now has 800,000 registered users and offices in London, New York, Johannesburg and Lagos. The tech entrepreneur spoke to BET.com about how he’s helping to digitally distribute the popular Nigerian films.

Would you define Nollywood for us?
Nollywood is a film industry centred mostly on Nigeria and Ghana. But they are largely Nigerian productions, which create films for Africans about Africans. Many of the movies center around the dynamics of nuclear families and how they deal with traditional stories and issues from pre-colonial Africa. Other movies are based around marriage, religion, royalty, lack of success and even coping with illness. Nollywood films try to tell Africa’s story in modern life.

How did you come up with the idea for iROKOtv?
I grew up in the United Kingdom. I largely benefited from the power of the Internet, from usage and sites like Netflix. I heard about Nollywood in 2009 and I saw that my mom spent most of her spare time watching these movies. She would ask me to get her some good ones. I would go online to try to find them and I found it pretty amazing there wasn’t a way for her to buy them. The only way to get them was down at the local mom and pop store. It was really amazing and popular content, but the distribution was lacking.

Once you realized the demand for Nollywood films, when did you know you could be a part of the business of distributing them?
I jumped on a plane from London to Lagos to do a bit of fact finding and I found that no one was attempting to do this. So I thought it would be a good idea for someone like myself to take it on. I originally negotiated with a handful of production houses. We put a couple of hundred movies online, and we were able to make a return on our investment. We kept acquiring more movies and putting them online.

Where does most of iROKOtv’s traffic come from?
Our traffic comes from London, India, Australia, Moldavia, the Caribbean and our largest market is in the United States. We’ve made the accessibility and the discovery of these movies that much easier. We’ve partnered with the production houses to help them deliver their movies to as many people as possible.

What do you think has been key to iROKOtv’s booming success?
Nollywood is one of the largest film industries to emerge and definitely one of the most successful ones. The question became how would people globally around the world gain access to this popular content from Africa? What we did at iROKOtv is to make available the largest catalogue of Nigerian movies. We have 5,000 movies available to watch on our website. We’ve multiplied the ability to watch and enjoy these films. The movies have been out there for a long time — they’ve been very popular from day one. We took great content and made it widely available to anyone who has an Internet connection.

IRATE JESSE JAGZ LASHES OUT..."MURDER DEM"



Call it bais...call it highness...call it whatever you may but this is a song and video that has got me screaming to the high heavens..lol. 
Seriously I give it to creativity in arguably one of Nigeria's ace producers. 

Jesse Jagz of all trade...yes I agree but he is a real raw talent blossoming beyond expectation.
Thanks Bro for this super hot piece...MURDER DEM....(*in durella's voice* ENEMIES...me gon kick back and........FIRE DEM!!!) 
I was so moved by the song that upon seeing the video on television, I had to ask him out-rightly on twitter for an online link and he good-naturedly replied like a true "artist" 





BRIEF BIO
Jesse Garba Abaga was born August 1984, to a preaching father and singing mother, Rev. & Mrs. Chris Abaga, he grew in church where he was first exposed to music. There he learnt how to drum and sing, at age 9, he was a drummer in a band that won PMAN’s award for the best gospel group in 1993. He attended Baptist High School Jos were he discovered he’s talent for dancing and rapping, he eventually teamed up with his classmates and released an album titled My life for your Love . After graduating, he started a group with two others known as the GI (Gospel Insanity) . 

Shortly afterwards he joined another group known as El- tophelli a.k.a. Eleven Thirty where he produced he’s first # 1 Hit titled Three Kings . He later started the dance Group Jesse and Backdrops and at the same time he was a drummer at House on the Rock church in Jos Plateau State. In 2004 he hooked up with Jude Abaga a.k.a MI together they started Inner Hub Studios and Loopy Records. By 2005, Jesse started solo career with a debut-hit “ Africa” that remained at #1 on the Cool FM chart for a month.

SEXY RAPPER EVA DROPS BRAND NEW SINGLE "MERCY" (SOSSICK)



Known for her witty yet dynamic lyrical ability, an impeccable flow and a face to her music that commands respect; Eva Alordiah makes a brilliant comeback with this hot new single – MERCY, produced by Sossick, who also co-wrote this hook.


Eva is currently on a media promotional tour for this track Mercy. Her fans will be delighted to know her first all-access, Live Music and Unplugged show has been stated for March 9th at Rodizzio, GRA Ikeja, Lagos

This is arguably one of Eva's best as she pours it all out completely in this track.

FreshLikeMorningDew: MERCY

FLAVOUR N'ABANIA drops video for CHINNY BABY



Flavour N’abania drops the much anticipated video – CHINNY BABY, brought to you by 2Nite Enter-10-Ment.

Chinny Baby video is a classic! Only few days left for this love month to be over, Flavour drops this awesome video, telling a beautiful story of how much that special loved one is missed when away. Chinny Baby video is a trademark pictures.

Watch Below

MIDNIGHT CREW BACK AGAIN WITH "E GIMME MONEY"



Midnight Crew is back AGAIN!!! (You remember them?......”IGWE”) Here is a fusion of Rock, Dubstep and the contemporary Fuji.... They feature GAMEMAN - a young talented rapper. The song is produced by FLO.....
Watch out for Repping the Kingdom which features MIKE ABDUL (Midnight Crew), KORE (INFINITY) and more... Produced by ROYALPRIEST for HYBREED STUDIOS...

BIOGRAPHY
Midnight Crew is a faith based singing and music making group positioned for putting the praise of God on the lips of all men.
Founded on the 8th of November 2001, the group has four albums to its credit; FUSION, TUNGBA UNLIMITED, IGWE and KING OF NATIONS.
Midnight Crew's Music can be described as eclectic, robust and full of character, taking something from every genre of music available to its four proprietors - Patricia Uwaje King, Gbenga Oyebola, Odunayo Ojo and Micheal Abdul
BOOKINGS -  234-8023932169, 234-8033193443

FreshLikeMorningDew: E GIMME MONEY