Humans have always been drawn to entertainment from time immemorial. For man, entertainment is one of the ways by which they can relax and have fun, forgetting their sorrows for a while, at least.
The entertainment industry originally involved movies, stage plays, stand-up comedy, music, dancing and the likes, things that people engaged or indulged in during their leisure time. The people who worked in the entertainment industry delivered comic relief and morals to those who followed their shows.
These men and women spent their time doing what they loved without getting a lot of money from it as the industry was not optimised to serve as a cash cow for those working in it majorly because of the activities of pirates who made money off these people without permission.
Even sportsmen and sports entertainment were not left out, with footballers who plied their trade in the country finding it not very lucrative.
Players like Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, Celestine Babayaro, Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amunike, Jay Jay Okocha, Sunday Oliseh, late Rashidi Yekini, among others quickly found a way to move overseas to Europe, where they could earn better.
In more recent years, we have seen huge changes in the way the industry is run. Film pirates began to go through prosecution, paying huge sums of money or earning jail time if found guilty. One of the most notorious locations of piracy, Alaba international market began to lose its notoriety as movie makers found ways to cut their losses due to privacy.
Netflix became a reliable partner with the movie makers, and their platform started to be used for airing Nollywood movies. A good example is the recent Kunle Afolayan movie, “Citation” which was aired on Netflix, and Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart which Netflix bought for over 3 million US Dollars in 2019.
Other actors adopted the use of cinemas for the release of their movies, and this has also helped them earn from their job better. Funke Akindele’s new addition to the Omo Ghetto line raked in over 100 million Naira within 3 days of its release in cinemas.
Musicians also suffered from people downloading their songs illegally on websites. Subsequently, they chose to start putting out their music on streaming sites where one can either buy the music or listen to it on the site. For every time the song is played on the site, the musician earns money.
Sites like Spotify, Audiomack, Apple Music, iTunes and YouTube music work on this principle. Comedians are also not left behind, as they have made use of social media to earn more from their trade in ways that were not possible before.
Nowadays, the entertainment industry has also become a source of money for the fans who look to enjoy it. For example, people now host websites on which they put movies and songs, and these movies can be downloaded from these websites. People also generate traffic to their websites by enticing internet users with the opportunity of making money from online platforms such as with NetBet sports betting, staking on different sports such as football, basketball, tennis, racing, and other sports.
