Music video director-turned-filmmaker, Dami Twitch, has revealed that Nollywood producers can no longer use Afrobeats songs in their movies without permission.
Speaking in a recent episode of the Afropolitan podcast, Twitch explained that this is because most Afrobeats artists now have publishing deals with foreign companies.
Twitch noted that a lot of Nollywood producers can’t afford the fees for securing legal use of Afrobeats songs in their movies unless they have investors supporting their projects.
He said the development is affecting the relationship between Afrobeats and Nollywood.
“Nollywood producers can’t freely use Afrobeats songs in movies anymore. Some artists have already sold their music rights, so adding their songs to films becomes difficult.
“Even if the artist is my friend, they can’t give me permission to use their song freely because they have already entered a contract. That is a major challenge in the movie industry.
“The collaboration between Nollywood and Afrobeats is at a very weird place right now. A lot of producers can’t afford putting Afrobeats songs in their movies unless a big studio or investor supports them. Nigerian producers are mostly independent filmmakers so a lot of us won’t be able to afford it,” he said.