Victoria Oshona, popularly known as Diamond Sheva, is a Nigerian A and R manager, as well as a public relations expert. In this interview with TUNDE OMOLEHIN, she speaks on the Nigerian music industry, her promotional works and how upcoming African artists can excel. Excerpts:
Tell us about yourself and background
My name is Diamond Sheva. I am an artist/repertoire manager and public relations practitioner. I am from Kabba town in Kogi State. I have made an impressive career using the music business in the past seven years. I am the founder of DIMA Africa Empire and Africa’s representative at Menta Music.
You did some commercial modeling in the past. Can you tell us more about your sojourn in the fashion industry?
I did commercial modeling for a few years. I worked with Exotic Model in Accra, Ghana. I also got an opportunity to be featured as Sun Girl in Daily Sun Newspaper in 2015. It was an adventure that I was involved in between 2010 and 2016 before delving into the music business.
At what point did it occur to that you could fit into the music industry?
At first, I just realised that I was in love with fashion. I really wanted to launch myself into both the fashion and entertainment industry. But, first, I had to do a bit of modeling for about four or five years in both Nigeria and Ghana. It was during this period that I met Amota Dking. He was still an upcoming artist with raw talent. I realised that he was a good artist but lacked a manager. He eventually asked me to be his manager. After we had some discussions, I realised that I had the capacity for the job. I am the kind of person that likes doing one thing at a time. I decided to quit commercial modeling and focus on being an artist manager.
I started my music business in 2015 after meeting Amota Dking. I started getting him shows within Nigeria and promoting his work. At a point, we moved to Ghana and started promoting him there. In 2018, I was contacted by a music executive in Nairobi, Kenya for partnership. That was the moment I entered the music industry fully.
I was asked by Mdundo to represent Mdundo in West Africa. They are into the music library business. During my spell with them, I played a major role in signing up 50 percent of our priority artists within West Africa. In Nigeria for instance, we have the likes of Mavin Records, Chocolate City, DMW, Mad Solution, Omah Lay, Chike, etc. I was able to sign them up with Mdundo. I was also organising and attending meetings with our partners in Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia. Also I was able to submit over 30 new releases weekly for uploading on Mdundo’s library and send them for marketing promotion via Mdundo. So, it was through Mdundo I was able to immerse myself into the music industry in Africa.
How many countries have you taken your work to?
I have good relationships with some stakeholders in the music industries of Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Liberia, Kenya and Cameroon.
What kind of music genre do you enjoy promoting?
Any music genre, but the content has to be good enough. It could be Afrobeat, Gospel and any other kind of secular music. The lyrics have to be good, too.
Amota Dking is one of the music stars under your label/management. Tell us more about his work and latest album?
Amota Dking is a great talent whose works have been under the DIMA Africa Empire Africa for about a decade now. In 2017, he dropped an album and won four best albums in East Africa. We got various awards with the album. It was that album that motivated us to do more and aimed global. In 2019, he also dropped another album called Africa with Zojak Music Worldwide, a distribution company from Jamaica. The album was in Zojak Music until last year when we took it down and gave it to Menta Music. Last year, Amota Dking dropped another album titled ‘Big Waist’. His new album project called 7’7 EP will be released exclusively on Boomplay and distributed by Menta Music by February 24, 2023. We had a meeting with Boomplay and they wanted us to drop the album only for them for about two weeks before others can pick it up. So, the album will only be on Boomplay exclusively. Also, this year, we are planning big things for him, starting with a United States tour by April and a European tour by June this year.
What are your thoughts about the Nigerian music industry?
Nigeria’s music industry has become global. I’m so proud of the industry because in Europe and other continents, it is all about afrobeat. In the United States, they have even forgotten their hip-pop and embraced afrobeat. I’m proud of that. Nevertheless, I think, there is more to do on the part of managing these artists. Most of these managers are really destroying these artists by scamming for selfish reasons. I always advise most artists that I come across by telling them to work with managers they can trust. The last time I travelled to the USA, some artists that I interacted with are telling me their experiences with managers who scammed them just to take them to Africa. A lot of these artists based abroad wanted to come to Africa and have a show or tour because of the booming audience in the industry, but they ended up being scammed by the so-called managers.
Can you name any big artist you would like to work with?
I wish I could work with any big artists, but my priority as an A and R manager is to get outstanding talent. Even if it is an upcoming artist that has good content and a label to back it up, I will definitely work with him or her. But my major aim is to be one of the best artist managers in Africa.
Aside music promotion, what else are you involved in?
I’m into branding and advertising. I am currently working with Menta Music as Africa’s representative. In Menta Music we provide an advanced and reliable promotional service to artistes. We distribute artist music to Spotify and Apple music, among others.
What has DIMA Empire Africa been able to achieve since it was founded?
When we started DIMA Empire Africa, I was not sure how far the music industry could go because a lot of budget was attached to every activity. But, in the end, we were able to establish it in East Africa with their artists under our label. We also secured many good artistes in Tanzania under the DIMA Empire Africa. We want to work with more artistes this year as long as they have good contents.
We are working on how to register the DIMA Empire in the USA. We don’t want to limit our operations or presence in Africa alone. We want to see the possibility of working with other global artists directly. That is our goal at the moment and we are working to achieve it. We are open to any artiste that has good content and a good marketing budget to work with.
Tunde Omolehin is an award-winning Journalist with prose in investigative and storytelling that is connecting the dots between the under-reported communities and policymakers to ensure good governance and accountability.
