SPECIAL FEATURE: Press Release: iROKING ANNOUNCES NEW CEO - JASON NJOKU

On 2nd December 2013, iROKING, Nigeria's leading digital music platform, announces that its new CEO is Jason Njoku.

Njoku was the original founder and CEO of iROKING alongside his role at iROKOtv, the world's largest online catalogue of Nollywood movies. Njoku will now return to take overall control of iROKING artist management, all aspects of music distribution, including YouTube, iTunes and Amazon distribution, and oversee platform partnerships with the likes of Mxit and Eskimi.

Speaking on returning to a company he founded, Jason Njoku says: "What we've built with iROKING in its 23 month history is pretty incredible. There's a lot of chat amongst the technorati about the potential of the African online music space - now is the time to put words into action, hence why I'm taking a more hands-on approach to growing iROKING from a solid online Nigerian music distributor into a behemoth of a pan-African music platform".  

As of 2014, there will also be a renewed focus on the monetization of Nigerian digital content, as well as greater emphasis on strategic partnerships with leading companies in the industry.

More on the story from Jason Njoku's BLOG

MUSIC PREMIERE: NENE JOHNSON - KONGA FT SCOPE NERO

Nene Johnson is back with a fresh new joint after her last single "Ile Aye". This song comes in a fast paced beat suitable for club rockers and she titles this "Konga".

This smashing beat was laced by the expertise of Scope Nero, who is also featured on the track. "They say they feeling my konga, all the boys wanna ride on my jangolova" - lovely tune which got a fine blend of hip-hop from Scope Nero's lines.

FreshLikeMorningDew: KONGA ft SCOPE NERO

SPECIAL FEATURE: Nigeria's film and music industry falls foul of censors

Nigeria's burgeoning pop music industry and film-makers have been accused of producing "pornographic" content that is sexualising society.

There is growing discontent among religious figures and in the media in Nigeria – which has one of the most influential entertainment industries in Africa – with content from some of the country's most popular artists frequently banned by censors.

"It is common to see kids as young as five years old dressed in tight-fitting dresses, their faces glistening with makeup, dancing sensuously to modern day songs with sexually explicit lyrics," said Elder Godsday Orubebe, the minister of Niger Delta affairs and senior pastor of the Glory Sanctuary Christian Centre, speaking at a recent church anniversary.

"We live in a hypersensualised age and much from our westernised popular culture is rife with pornography and the sexualisation of women".

Michael Ugwu, the chief executive officer of Iroking, an online centre for afrobeat and Nigerian music, said there has been a large increase in the number of music videos being banned for broadcast in Nigeria.

"Artists have begun releasing videos purely for the internet to get round the censors. I have seen the content of both music and movie videos get more and more racy."

Casualties of Nigeria's state censors include Iyanya, the popular artist whose recent single Head Swell was released last month online only, and P Square, the identical-twin music duo signed by the American star Akon, whose hit single Alingo was also censored for Nigerian TV.

Church figures have been among outspoken critics of the new trend. Nigeria's film industry, popularly known as "Nollywood", has also been producing a growing number of films with erotic themes, such as Bold 5 Babes, described as "an erotic comedy about a group of women with supernatural powers they use to seduce men and turn them into BlackBerry Bold 5 smartphones", and other titles like I Slept with my Boss's Wife and Strippers in Love.

Industry figures say that the move towards more sexual content is an inevitable part of competing in a crowded market and catching up with global trends.

"More and more people are bringing out movies and music videos, so just as in the west, people are using increasingly racy subject matter to get viewers' attention," said Ugwu.

"There is a tension between African culture and this new wave of modernity and naked bodies," Ugwu added. "People are pushing the envelope, but it's not just happening here in Nigeria, it's everywhere. This kind of content has been aired on channels like MTV since the 1980s."

"What's happening in music videos and movies in Nigeria would be considered normal in the UK or the US," said Tony Tagoe, a Ghana-based former artist manager. "It is just that in countries that are very religious, where churches and imams have a strong influenced, they are noticed more."

courtesy Afua Hirsch, West Africa correspondent

theguardian.com

EXCLUSIVE ALBUM RELEASE : LKT - THE JOURNEY

LKT finally drops his long awaited album - The Journey brought to you by Edlyne Records.

The 20 track album features a list of collaborations of some of the biggest artists in the Nigeria music scene - P Square, Davido, 9ice, Olamide, KSwitch, Vector, and Jaywon .

This album shows the creative and versatile side of LKT hugely known for his Fuji Hip Life fusion.

Get the album on here http://iroking.com/album/1935/the-journey

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.

iROKING on US tour with Femi Kuti

iROKING, Africa’s number one digital music platform, today announces an exclusive partnership with one of the continent’s most revered recording artists, Femi Kuti, as he embarks on his latest tour of the USA: Femi Kuti and the Positive Force Tour. 

To celebrate this new partnership, and to welcome Femi Kuti onto its digital platform, iROKING has compiled an exclusive playlist, now available on http://iroking.com/album/1338/positive-tour-2013.

The full track listing includes:

Michael Ugwu, CEO of iROKING says: “Femi Kuti is an African icon and we are honoured, and very excited, to have his music on iROKING. He continues to push the boundaries and fly the flag for African music around the world. I urge everyone to go and see Femi Kuti on his US tour; if you think his songs sound good on the iROKING play list, imagine how intense and powerful they will be live”.

As part of this exclusive partnership, iROKING has competition tickets to give away for dates to the Femi Kuti & the Positive Force Tour. To be in with a chance of winning, Femi Kuti fans must answer the following question correctly and state clearly which tour date you would like to attend. More information can be found on the iROKING blog http://blog.iroking.com/ or click here to see full competition details.

What is the name of the Lagos club made famous by Fela Kuti and re-launched by Femi Kuti?

Two tickets are available for each tour date:

Solana Beach, CA	17 JAN
Los Angeles, CA	18 JAN
San Francisco, CA	19 JAN
Chicago, IL	21 JAN
Boston, MA	23 JAN
New York, NY	24 JAN
Philadelphia, PA	25 JAN
Washington, DC	26 JAN
Lyndon, VERMONT	27 JAN

iROKING is Africa’s number one music distribution platform, with over 35,000 tunes from 400 artists.
The company also manages the YouTube channels of over 80 artists, delivering 15 million video views on average a month and over 130,000,000 views across its pages.

For information concerning iROKING please contact Global Communications Officer Jessica Hope – jessica.hope@irokopartners.com / 0044 203 176 2808

BRIEF INFORMATION:

iROKING is Africa’s number one music streaming service. Launched in 2010, www.iroking.com has over 35,000 songs from over 400 of West Africa’s biggest recording artists, including international superstars such as Bez, 2Face and 2Shotz.

iROKING is successfully re-organising Nigerian music distribution via iROKING.com, YouTube, iTUNES and Amazon. Since its inception, the iROKING team has grown the business to over 80 managed YouTube channels delivering 15 million video views on average a month and over 130,000,000 views across its artists’ pages.

In August 2012, iROKING announced that the music platform had registered 100,000 users and October 2012 saw the launch of a mobile site for iROKING, where registered users can listen to and download any of the 35,000 tracks on the site from their Feature phones.

FEMI KUTI is a Grammy-award winning and renowned Nigerian recording artist influenced by and playing Afrobeat – a blend of jazz, hip-hop, African rhythms, funk, soul and psychedelic rock. Winning a Grammy in 2010 for his album Africa to Africa, Femi continues to push the boundaries of music with distinctive, powerful lyrics and melodies and actively campaigns for social and political justice.

http://www.myspace.com/femikuti

http://www.femikuti.tv/

FEMI KUTI AND THE POSITIVE FORCE are currently touring the USA for 11 dates from 13 – 27 January 2013. The official airline partner is Arik Air, West Africa’s premier airline and proud supporter of both the European and US tours.

http://www.arikair.com/