Troniq Music boss, Godfrey Eguakun is a record label owner who knows his onions having handled artists like Oxlade and a number of budding music artists. In a recent interview, the music executive who has offices in Lagos and New York City shares qualities he looks for in an artist before signing them to the label.
According to him, “Top of the list is hunger and a drive to win and grow. The will and the skill too. In my opinion, talent is only 5% of it all, because a lot more comes into play. Traits like charisma, swag, and drive all combine to make a superstar, not just the ability to sing or write songs. The will to win and a willingness to work hard are important considerations for me.”
The Troniq boss added that the genres of music doesn’t really play a big part in his consideration as good music is good music, regardless of the genre or the language in which it is delivered.
He affirmed, “ I don’t consider any particular type of genre better than the order. I listen to almost all genres. There’s nothing off-limits for me. So, with my signees, I focus more on our space which is first representing Africa and pushing the things which are most unique with us. That said, I will endorse an African talent doing African music before I will be intrigued by them doing trap. I will also celebrate an American pushing trap before I endorse them on Afrobeat.
Again, my aim has always been to project and promote African music to the rest of the world, so I will always be pro “Africa to the world”. While there’s nothing wrong with exploring spaces and other genres, I’m also pro-original, and then exporting these originals will become a selling point.”
Eguakun founded Monkey Media House in 2017 which was rebranded as Troniq Music in 2019. The label came into existence with a vision to make African brands of music global.
“Troniq Music can dominate and become the global leading force in the industry, having watched other companies do it from the ground up. Companies like Quality Control based in Atlanta, whom I’ve always admired- I saw them grow; from signing Migos, The City Girls, Lil Baby, and others, they evolved from an Atlanta business to a global company competing with the majors. So our vision at Troniq Music will be to scale up globally and excellently such that the confidence of affiliating with our brand will be enough to propel new signees to global platforms,” Eguakun submitted.
On the journey so far, Eguakun believes the omen is good for them, given the numbers they have been able to post through their artists.
“We are measuring against ourselves so it’s really a case of our growth versus our growth. We would consider how far we have come in the last 5 years and then plan to scale up for exponential growth in the next 5 years. Our KPI is really just being better at everything we did in the last 5 years, doubling our results and all.
So we are hoping to be discovered and to represent Nigerian music on a global scale with an entire publishing department. We want to attain such recognition that when an artist identifies with the brand, that affiliation alone guarantees them open doors. We just want to get in the field with the major stakeholders, become an authority ourselves and generally just make an impact,” he stated.
