Speaking on The Long Form podcast, Davido was direct about his intentions. “I have a good music contract. But the most important thing is ownership. I plan to get my masters back from Sony soon. With that I can give each of my kids songs they will keep earning royalties from even after I retire.”
Davido has spent over a decade building one of the most recognisable brands in African music, selling out arenas across three continents, racking up streaming numbers that most artists will never see. If any Nigerian artist has the leverage to walk into a conversation with Sony about buying back masters, it is him.
And motives for doing so is something not a lot of artists think about. The children. His Legacy.
The music industry isn’t designed to make artists wealthy in perpetuity. Its framework consistently extract value from their creativity and concentrate ownership elsewhere. Labels take the masters. Publishers take the publishing. Artists take the applause and a fraction of the revenue, for as long as the hits keep coming. And when the hits stop, so does the income. The children inherit the fame but rarely the catalogue.
The timing of this conversation matters too. Davido is at a point in his career where the biggest battles are no longer on the charts. He is taking stock of the future and ensuring his children never have to fight a heavy fight themselves. The wish of every parent.
