“I need at least $5m to launch my music career” – Lord Paper
Ghanaian musician Michael Takyi-Frimpong, widely known as Lord Paper, has put a $5 million price tag on his ambition to return to the music scene with the scale of investment he believes is required to compete internationally.
The musician explained in a recent interview that the expansion of the global music market has made promotion a major financial undertaking, particularly for African artistes seeking to break beyond their home countries.
“I need at least $5 million to properly launch my music career and do some projects,” he said.
Lord Paper argued that musicians today are competing for listeners against artistes from some of the world’s biggest music markets, making visibility just as important as the quality of a song.
“Now the music industry is huge and it’s not just Ghana anymore. When you drop a song, you’re competing with Nigeria, the US and other countries,” he explained.
He said the financial commitment would depend on the level of ambition, noting that an artiste targeting only Ghana would need a smaller promotional budget than one seeking to compete with globally recognised names such as Nigerian Afrobeats star Divine Ikubor, popularly known as Rema.
“If you want to box yourself to just Ghana, then the budget will be smaller, but if you’re looking at catching up with Rema and co, you need to have a bigger budget,” Lord Paper stated.
According to him, strategic promotion can determine whether a good song reaches a wide audience, regardless of the talent behind it.
“It’s all about promotion. If you’re able to promote it to the right audience, it will go far because the sound is good,” he said.
The musician also acknowledged that limited investment in marketing has affected his own career trajectory.
“I feel like I don’t do enough promotion as a musician, that’s why things are a bit slow for me,” he admitted.
His comments highlight the growing financial demands facing Ghanaian musicians seeking to compete beyond the local market, where substantial spending on marketing, digital platforms and international visibility has increasingly become part of the game.
Watch the interview below:
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Source: Yvonne Nyarko Agyemang
