Wizkid is no doubt one of the most popular names in world music and getting a collaboration with him will be enough to catapult any struggling artist to instant fame.
Meet the upcoming artist that found a shortcut to benefit from the superstar’s global fame.
About six months ago, an upcoming artist identified as Nathaniel started creating social media profiles under the pseudonym @WiseKidAya.
He was deliberately infringing on the WizKid Ayo brand name, he did not stop there. He created a replica of Wizkid’s Made in Lagos album and uploaded it to music platforms and he started cashing out almost N30 million a month in streams and sales revenue being shared with him.
He called his own version of Made in Lagos, Lasgidi Made, and most streamers either didn’t notice the difference or clicked on his album in error.
As a result of Wizkid’s popularity, Wisekid was able to garner more than 9 million plays per month from 130k daily listeners.
Everything was going smoothly for him until he started bragging about his popularity on social media, that was when he caught people’s attention who described him as a scammer.
Wisekid’s account has since been deleted on Twitter, and his streaming accounts have also been deleted for copyright violation.
Most music lovers are beginning to ask how this was allowed to happen by streaming companies who allowed copyright materials on their platforms for months and even made payments without the necessary verifications.
One fan wrote: “I don’t even know what to say about this. You mean WizKid and his entire management had no idea of this? Not even his record label? I’m so angry right now.”
Another wrote: “The part that killed me is that he did not even try this with upcoming artistes or smaller artistes.. Wizkid Really Dfkm”.
Olalekan Ajimoti – Blogger, Content Writer, and Digital Marketer helping brands and retailers build 8-figure e-commerce since 2016.
As a corporate trainer, brand communications expert, and brand consultant, I help people start, stay and grow in business leveraging digital skills and traditional expertise.
