🥤Nollywood made stars, but did it make them wealthy?

Plus: Inside our conversation with a Ghanaian music journalist and talent manager, this week’s cultural moments, New Music Friday, and more.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

September 11, 2026   |   Read online       👋Good afternoon! Today, we have: Why are Nollywood stars so often broke after leaving the spotlight?  But before we finish counting Nollywood's missing coins, Main Squeeze is crossing the border to look at Ghanaian music. Do Ghanaian artists need to pivot and actively target the Nigerian audience to survive, or does the African music industry as a whole need to do a better job of protecting its originality? Let’s get into it! In this edition: Inside our conversation with a Ghanaian music journalist and talent manager, this week’s cultural moments, New Music Friday, and more. If you’re enjoying this, don’t forget to subscribe and join The Juice community. We’re building this together ♡. Shalom Tewobola, Editor.             🗞️ THIS WEEK IN CULTURE 🎵MUSIC Afro Plus Fest returned to Maryland for its second edition with Nigerian acts including Ayra Starr, Tems, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Victony, Ruger, NO11, and Olamide among its lineup. Wizkid closed the three-day festival with a performance spanning his discography. The festival, built around global Black music culture, reflects how Nigerian artists are increasingly becoming part of the wider African and diaspora music ecosystem. From established stars to newer acts, their presence shows that Nigerian music is not simply travelling but existing in global spaces where African music is celebrated. ⭐ AWARD Nigerian visual development artist and character designer Uzoma Dunkwu has won an Emmy for his work on Marvel Animation’s Eyes of Wakanda. During the juried 2026 Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Dunkwu received the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation award for Character Design on Into the Lion’s Den, for his contribution to the visual development of the Disney+ series. The win spotlights another Nigerian creative behind a major global animation project, showcasing Nigerian talent’s contribution to the visual worlds of international productions. 📚 LITERATURE The Association of Nigerian Authors has opened entries for the 2026 Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature and unveiled a new logo for the organization. The competition is open to Nigerian novels published in 2025 or 2026. Submissions close September 15, the shortlist drops in October, and the winner will be announced at the ANA Convention in late October. The prize matters because literary awards create platforms for Nigerian writers to be recognized and their work documented, while giving contemporary fiction another route to reach readers and the wider literary industry. 📽️ FILM TIFF is putting the business of filmmaking in focus with TIFF: The Market, bringing producers, financiers, distributors, and filmmakers together to build partnerships around projects. Among those attending are British-Nigerian producers Jumafor Ajogwu (Lionheart, The Milkmaid and My Father’s Shadow) and Yemi Adegbulu (working on Everybody Wants to Fck Me and producing Mother Me), selected for a BFI-supported delegation of UK Black and Global Majority producers. For both producers, the opportunity publicizes their stories in front of the people who can help finance, distribute, and take them further. ⚡MATTERS ARISING Nigeria is facing a growing diphtheria outbreak, with more than 10,000 confirmed cases recorded this year. In Plateau State, suspected cases have more than doubled from 149 to 303, while fatalities have risen from 23 to 27. Diphtheria is a highly contagious and potentially fatal bacterial infection. As cases and deaths rise, vaccination, public awareness, early treatment, and stronger prevention are increasingly important.             MAIN SQUEEZE Ghanaian Music Might Need Its People to Show Up Nigeria and Ghana have been musically intertwined for years, but the exchange between both industries has never been quite even. Nigerian artists regularly find an audience in Ghana, while Ghanaian artists often have to work harder to make the same inroads into Nigeria.  Nana Kojo Mula has spent years moving between culture writing, music PR, and talent management, giving him a close-up view of where the gap comes from and what both industries could be doing differently.  In this conversation, he talks about the importance of collaboration, why some Ghanaian artists feel pressured to sound Nigerian, and the relationships that could make the two markets less one-sided. You alternate between culture writing, music PR, and talent management. How has that journey changed the way you understand the music industry? One of the lessons I have learnt is that a lot of artists and their teams don't understand the different aspects of the music structure. They often care about the making of the music without factoring in the post-music responsibilities.  As someone who deals in media relations, I have seen how press and media relations are often treated as an afterthought, and it always shows in how lackluster PR & press for these artists appear.  Nigerian music thrives in Ghana, but the reverse doesn't happen at the same scale. What do you think drives this imbalance, and how can we create more exchange between both industries? Collaboration has always been the way forward. Ghana music thrived in Nigeria in the past largely because of collaboration, and we as Ghanaians used to also be present in Nigeria to drive the music. A lot of Ghanaians don't do that as much.  The few, like Black Sherif, Olivetheboy, King Promise, Gyakie, and Amaarae, who have done that in recent times in terms of collaborations and being present in Nigeria, have enjoyed substantial success in Nigeria. The more collaborations and presence Ghanaians have in Nigeria, the more our music thrives.  From your work with Ghanaian and Nigerian artists, what have you noticed about how Nigerian music gets received there compared to Ghanaian music in Nigeria? I do think there's more room for Ghanaian music in the Nigerian space, and you can tell from how open the media in Nigeria is to covering Ghanaian music and stories. We just need more Ghanaians to take the initiative to engage with the Nigerian market as much as Nigerians do here. I understand it can be expensive to work in Nigeria, but there are ways to partner and maneuver to avoid those costs.  Have you encountered situations where a Ghanaian artist like King Promise or Gyakie had to sound, collaborate, or position themselves a certain way to get Nigerian attention? Do you think that is sustainable? If not, what’d you propose? There have been people who feel the need to sound Nigerian to get some penetration into that market. But if you follow the data, it tells you some guidelines to follow to have some presence in a market. The Ghanaians of old didn't have to sound Nigerian to penetrate the market. The likes of Sarkodie, Black Sherif, Amaarae, and a host of others have never had to sound Nigerian, but they get a lot of streams and followers from the market. Nigeria already contributes significantly to the number of streams a number of Ghanaian artists get. I just believe they need to do more collaborations and strategic partnerships that position them within the Nigerian music market as much as Nigerians do in our market.  Do you think Ghanaian artists and industry players sometimes contribute to the imbalance themselves? If so, where do they get it wrong? Yes, they do. Their inability to create sustainable relationships between both markets is a key factor in the imbalance. I know a few executives who have built a pipeline and structures that make it easier for their artists to get some significant exposure in the Nigerian market. As I mentioned earlier, collaboration and partnerships are important for the growth of any industry, and it's important if you want to gain some leverage in another market.  What is one thing about the global music industry that you think is influencing the direction of African music, and are we benefiting from it or losing something? Money. I think the success and the monetary benefits from Afrobeats have created this fixation on foreign validation and also a wide price gap in the market. You've got local platforms charging exorbitant rates because of past dealings with beneficiaries of the Afrobeats success train.  The earlier we reduce our need for foreign validation, the better things will be for us as African artists. Many problems need fixing, and if done right, they will create opportunities for a lot of people within the chain.             🔪 THE PEEL Nollywood Made Stars, but Did It Make Them Wealthy? The discourse On the Afropolitan podcast, one of Nigeria’s pioneering actresses, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, gave a blunt description of her career in the two hemispheres: Nollywood and Hollywood. In Hollywood, she said, her few projects there have kept her paid, with royalties arriving regularly. In comparison to her 30 years spent in Nollywood, nothing of the sort. The comparison is imperfect, but it is still worth sitting with. Nollywood has given Nigeria a huge cultural export, yet the industry has made people famous without necessarily giving them a system through which that fame translates into lasting wealth. What happens when an industry that creates stars doesn’t have a structure that lets them benefit from the long-term value of their work? Peeling it back There are many examples of actors who, after decades in the industry, have had to turn to the public for help when illness became too expensive to manage alone. In 2023, John “Mr. Ibu” Okafor publicly solicited financial assistance for his medical treatment, while in July 2026, veteran actress Ngozi Nwosu appealed for ₦30 million to fund three surgeries. These cases don't necessarily mean their careers left them broke or that Nollywood alone is responsible for their medical expenses. But they point to a larger problem: after decades of creating value for an industry, there is often no dependable safety net waiting for veteran actors when illness, age, or retirement arrives. Yoruba actor Kunle Afod's Ile Imo channel is another example that shows this pattern. He visits veteran actors, documents their living conditions, and solicits funds on their behalf from the public. The goodwill is admirable, but they shouldn’t be subjected to that.   In Nollywood, actors have historically been paid per project or per role. The film is shot, the actor receives an agreed fee, and, for many actors, that is largely the end of their financial relationship with the film. Whatever happens next, whether the film sells on DVD, streams on Netflix, gets licensed abroad, or plays on television for years, there may be no mechanism for that subsequent value to filter back to the actor. Hollywood has its own flaws, but its unionized system has mechanisms for actors to receive additional compensation from certain uses of their work. Depending on the contract and production, which can include residuals or negotiated backend participation. The important distinction is not that every Hollywood actor keeps getting paid forever, but the industry has established structures through which an actor's financial relationship with a production can extend beyond the initial paycheck. That is the gap Nollywood is yet to close.  Another Layer What makes this sting more now than it might have a decade ago is timing: Nollywood is no longer the cottage industry it was twenty years ago. It has grown into genuine commercial weight, with producers landing international co-production deals, diaspora audiences paying premium prices, and streaming platforms actively bidding for Nigerian content. West Africa's box office crossed roughly ₦15.6 billion in 2025, up more than a third from the year before, and for the first time Nollywood titles outsold Hollywood imports in Nigerian cinemas, taking 49.4% of the market to Hollywood's 48.8%. Individual films like Oversabi Aunty, Everybody Loves Jenifa and Behind the Scenes have crossed the billion-naira mark at the box office alone, before streaming and international licensing revenue are even counted. Analysts have pegged Nigeria's broader film and entertainment economy as a multi-billion-dollar sector with room to keep climbing. The pie has clearly gotten bigger. However, the structure underneath all the growth remains the same, and there are still plenty of shortcomings. Another contrast with Hollywood is its SAG-AFTRA union, which has collective bargaining agreements that give actors contractual protections around residuals and other forms of compensation. Nigeria's Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), meanwhile, has yet to establish anything comparable at the same scale or level of enforcement. This is not entirely the industry's fault, and it is not entirely anyone's fault to fix alone.  Nollywood developed in a historically informal environment, where contracts, distribution records, and revenue reporting were often inconsistent. But as the industry becomes more commercial, those old gaps become harder to excuse. Without those systems, percentage-based compensation becomes difficult to implement and even harder to enforce. You cannot reliably share money you cannot reliably account for. And that is precisely the problem: the industry has scaled its output and visibility far faster than it has scaled its accountability. The core Nollywood has done something rare by building its stars and operators from a place with little infrastructure and almost nothing to lean on. Their achievements are no ordinary feat, but an industry can be great and still fail its people. Other film industries have already built mechanisms for tracking value and distributing it beyond the initial paycheck. Nollywood's challenge is building versions that actually work within its own ecosystem. Nollywood doesn't need to copy Hollywood wholesale, but it can borrow what works: contracts that account for a film's life beyond its first release, reliable revenue tracking, enforceable agreements, and a welfare or pension system for veteran actors.  The industry has already figured out how to make stars. Now, it has to figure out how to make the wealth created by that stardom last.             🎵 PRESSED BY THE JUICE Turn up the volume because this week's playlist is pure energy! We are turning up the rhythm, so dust off your dancing shoes and get ready to move as we spin new tracks from Rema, Ajebo Hustlers, Yemi Alade, FAVE, and more! Save your favorites, as New Music Box💿 is updated every Friday!  Do you have a song you’d like us to include? Put us on; reply here. Listen Now       FRESH STATS 1949 The first Emmy Awards ceremony took place 77 years ago on January 25, 1949. Was this email forwarded to you? Join The Juice → Have a story or product that needs to be seen? Submit Here → Today’s email was written by Shalom Tewobola and Ikeoluwa Amonimo, edited by Shalom Tewobola. Designs by: Daniel Banjoko.   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 The Juice 36 Adekayode Street Maryland, Lagos 100231, Nigeria Powered by beehiiv