For those not in the know, Davido is an internationally popular Afrobeat musician from Nigeria. He has performed in Zimbabwe in the past and has a collaboration with our very own Jah Prayzah (who is not doing too bad himself).
So, Davido was on Twitter one day and was feeling a little ‘playful’ and sent out a few tweets and within 2 days, there was 200 million Naira (US$486,000) in his account. How did that happen?
Below is the first tweet he sent out:
He simply asked his fans to show a little appreciation if they had found enjoyment from his music. Before proceeding do note that he has over 31 million fans on Twitter and Instagram. For context, that’s more fans than double the population of Zimbabwe.
As it turns out, a good number of those fans were indeed appreciative and proceeded to send him the money.
He tweeted out the bank account number into which fans were to transfer the funds. Good old fashioned bank account and fans made the transfers.
The security question
The ultra private among us are shaking right now. He shared his bank account name and number with millions of people on a public forum? Yes, he did. While it doesn’t sound like the wisest thing, it’s not really risky.
The security of our bank accounts is not dependent on the account number remaining a secret. We are meant to share that with those who would transfer funds into that account. Indeed we do put our account names and account numbers on our quotations and invoices and that’s okay.
Of course this doesn’t mean update all your social media descriptions to include your personal bank account. Davido himself opened a new account for only this purpose.
So, don’t unnecessarily share that info if it can be helped, you never know. However, it goes without saying that under no circumstances should you ever give anyone your PIN or passwords. NEVER share that.
Back to how Davido raised $486,000
As fans sent him money, he tweeted out updates on how much was flowing in. After just 10 minutes he had raised 7m Naira (US$17,000). He ‘joked’ that he needed to raise US$243,000 to get a Rolls Royce cleared from a port.
The updates continued and after two days, he was sitting on about 200m Naira (over US$486,000).
I would have sent something his way too because he has given me hits. But the way my bank account is set up, I have a current and a savings account. All my funds are in the savings and need 23 working days to be available to use. Unfortunate.
He is donating it all away
At the end of the second day he tweeted that he might give it all away.
Indeed, he did give it all away. He added 50m Naira (just over US$120,000) of his own funds to make it a cool US$608,000 (250m Naira). All of that is going to orphanages across Nigeria.
This was not the plan from the beginning though. Just 30 minutes after asking fans to send him money he had over US$63,000 worth and he admitted then that he started the whole thing as a joke. He did not think he would get such a response. He probably thought he would get a little and I doubt he would have donated it. However, the large sums attracted opinions.
Criticism was swift
I think it is those critical voices that made him donate it all in the end. Some were angry that he asked his financially inferior fans to send him money. Him being a millionaire who did not need it at all.
I hate that kind of thinking but I do know that many Zimbos would agree with that thinking, calling those fans stupid. I disagree. Personally, I do believe in supporting the artists who bring some joy to your life. We don’t do this enough in Zimbabwe.
If we wait until we are billionaires to support our artists, we will miss out on some of the cool stuff that never gets made as artists leave that industry altogether. Why should it hurt that the artist I’m giving a dollar to is richer than me?
For some reason we have no problem when we support large corporations. My dollar is my appreciation, a little token for the art I’ve enjoyed. Even if Davido had not donated it all away, it was still fine with me if he used it on his Rolls Royce.
How about that social media though?
Every other day we are reminded that social media is a great tool at our disposal. One that we are criminally underutilising.
Governments were toppled in North Africa through social media. A lot of businesses owe their success to social media.
And now, musicians are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from 17 word messages. It’s crazy that we have stock exchange listed companies in Zimbabwe failing to raise that kind of money, Let alone the small businesses without access to the stock markets.
Davido did not need to launch a cryptocurrency through a complicated Initial Coin Offering or list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. He amassed a fanbase, created a community on the free to use social media platforms. And that’s how we got here.
The Davido strategy deconstructed
The Davido strategy for raising half a million on social media is simple really. I took notes and I’m going to share with you:
- Start a career in music
- Create multiple international hits for over a decade
- Amass millions of fans and get them to follow you on social media
- Ask those fans to show a little appreciation
- Bang, you’re swimming in gold
Let artists enjoy the fruits of their labour.
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28 comments
What do you mean ‘criminally underutilizing’
It is just a common expression often used for emphasis. It is not literally ‘criminal’ or ‘illegal’…
YET!
I like the ominous YET. We just never know.
‘Criminally underutilizing’?
His “success” will unfortunately lead rise to fake accounts / hijacked accounts doing fundraising. It will be just a matter of time.
I don’t think people have a problem supporting artists, people have a problem with “poor” people supporting millionaires who have plenty of other options available to them – now that they have made it. It’s not just artists, even the prophets and pastors of this world. But, at least the artists put in the work to get where they are 😜.
We must remember that it’s their fans that probably made them millionaires to begin with, whilst the fans themselves remaining static in poverty (or whatever economic state they were in). On the contrary, one would expect the artist to give back to the people that propped him/her up. So, it is nice to hear that he donated the money to charity.
Personally, when I read his tweet, I thought he was targeting those who download / listen to his music, but have never paid a cent to go to a show or get a legit download.
Poor people purchase inscor products can we then complain we’re making these rich people richer while we remain poor? My point is its Davido’s line of business we cannot prosecute him for being creative
There’s a very big difference. A fair analogy would be Innscor, from the blue, saying “those that have once enjoyed our food, send us some money.” Would you do so?
Your analogy has it’s problems too. I know that I paid the full price for the value I got from Innscor. Once I ate that pizza, the transaction was done. That’s different from the music (like Davido’s Skelewu) I have been playing for about a decade now. Even if I had paid to download the song then, I realise I’ve continued to find joy from the song in the years that followed. So, giving something extra to Davido would not be ridiculuos to me. That’s different from a Creamy Inn milkshake I had in 2014. It left my body the same day I bought it and so why would I pay for that again.
The difference is that for one of the products, you get continued use/value and for the other it’s a single use,
Why would you pay for a song for you to listen to it once? Noone in their sane mind has ever bought a tape, CD or song download to listen to once. And, in the valuation of that product, they have taken that usage pattern into consideration.
By your logic, musicians thus would not make money without donations, which is false.
Of course I know you wouldn’t pay for a song to listen to it once. You obviously take continued usage into consideration. However, you may then realise you have gotten more value than you initially thought you would. It became your wedding song etc. Sentimental value you now place on that song was not in the original valuation of the song.
You may also want to think of it as a tip. It’s a gesture of appreciation above the price paid for the service/product.
How does my logic lead to the conclusion that musicians wouldn’t be able to make money without donations?
You can also buy a pizza or airtime and get more value than you paid for #TerrificTuesdays #Bundles, since these are now matters of perceived value. I can even reminiscence about some good pizza I had. Don’t the Innscor and Econet teams also deserve a tip? Especially Econet, (or whichever mobile or ISP you use) as you’ve probably used their service more than the playtime of ANY song you’ve ever listened to.
The conclusion of donations, stems from the belief that a continued use product requires continued payment outside of the initial (and complete) purchase.
If he had such a noble intention to start with why on earth would he misrepresent the facts, where make it clear that he is working towards such an initiative and hence need your support…
I acknowledged that in the article. I’m 99% sure he had no intention of donating the proceeds. There were no noble intentions as he himself acknowledged. He just didn’t think people would respond that well to his ‘kinda joking’ plea for money. So when he got more than thought he would get, the criticism came and he decided to donate. At no point did he intend to give US$120,000 of his own funds to charity on his birthday. So he’s down some serious bank and he probably wishes he never started the whole thing. But it worked out for the orphanages so all is well that ends well
I agree that quite a number of scammers took notice and the floodgates are going to open soon.
I disagree with those that think it’s a problem for poor people to support millionaires. The millionaire is giving me a product/service I appreciate and so I pay for that. It matters not that he has millions in his bank account. Poor or not, we can’t have the ‘well he should be helping us’ mentality.
In the end, like Star says above, it’s less of a problem when the same ‘poor’ people purchase their Chicken Inn. That would mean we value art way less than they do. It would mean the critics think they should value junk food more than they do art. Some do and that’s okay. Everyone, regardless of their financial status should pay for what they value. Even if it’s the Papa’s ‘wisdom’ they value.
There’s a huge difference in just asking (technically begging) for money and exchanging money for a service. You must remember that neither his music, nor his shows are free. So, his legit fans and broadcasters have paid for his product. If he was targeting the freeloaders, perhaps. If not, he was begging a person poorer than him to sponsor him without even a good reason too. If Innscor or Econet just asked you as a customer to send them money “just”, I highly doubt you would despite one being a consumer of those services.
There’s no he should be helping us mentality. He doesn’t owe anyone money (nor do his paying fans owe him). But between him and his fans, who needs help the most and who is more capable of helping the other? It’s a no brainer, honestly.
Just because you can donate to him, or a pastorprenuer, doesn’t mean you should. At the end of the day, a fool and his money are soon parted.
Responded above to this argument: Single use vs continued use
Your analogy has it’s problems too. I know that I paid the full price for the value I got from Innscor. Once I ate that pizza, the transaction was done. That’s different from the music (like Davido’s Skelewu) I have been playing for about a decade now. Even if I had paid to download the song then, I realise I’ve continued to find joy from the song in the years that followed. So, giving something extra to Davido would not be ridiculuos to me. That’s different from a Creamy Inn milkshake I had in 2014. It left my body the same day I bought it and so why would I pay for that again.
The difference is that for one of the products, you get continued use/value and for the other it’s a single use,
great many thanks to all those that gave Davido money. l believe in wealth transfer. The point is you must learn as an individual to channel resource towards those things that ‘oil’ your life’s engine. Take for instance, if you enjoy listening to a ‘Man of the Cloth’ speaking, its imperative that you appreciate that gift you receive in the speeches through offerings, that’s basically how it works. lf you get people chuckling in a bar through your statements, why shouldn’t you get a ‘Bells’. Seriously why not?
I agree. Pay for what you value. Whatever that is. Support those that give it to you.
Then give econet the directive to stop it’s zero rating for econet subscribers for this site 🤭🤭🤭
Alas when Gringo was not feeling well we never heard you fundraising for his welfare apo he gave us 2 decades of entertainment 🤗🤗🤗 Whether Davido gave the money to charity or not isn’t the issue but the fact that he purposely misrepresented facts to me gives me the chills ….
Gringo was a national icon who did give us joy for years on end and I was on board with supporting him. Just like I do with all artists.
As regards him misrepresenting, he did not. Like I said, just 30 minutes after the first tweet he admitted that he started it as a joke. He did not think he would get such a huge response. When he saw the huge amount raised and the criticism that followed, he decided to donate it. He’s not claiming he started all this to raise money for charity.
By your conclusion from what you have learnt from the Davido story, it won’t be too long before you are swimming in gold,because throughout the decade you have ammased such a considerable readership and to add that more than 2m econet subscribers can access your site for free 🤔🤔🤔 Could it be that Davido beat you to a scheme you were already plotting throughout the years🤪🤪🤪 Or you are just happy that such a “ponzi” scheme works 🤗🤗🤗
😂😂😂😂 I’m dead. That’s funny. I was joking about that strategy. Just wanted to show that the guy has put in the work and his fans appreciate it.
But you said it, the scheme works, so…😂😂😂
🤗🤗🤗 at least you quantified it “some jokes are worth it…” With how rotten our african system is the money donated will only serve the petty few…(instituations like orphanages people exploit them for their own personal gain 🤣🤣🤣) No matter how noble his last resort was it will at the end of the day find itself to corrupt officials 🤪🤪🤪
Davido started as a joke🤭🤭🤭 Either way knowing the african mentality the funds are going to be misappropriated to such an extent that the orphans will be far worse than the conditions they were previously in 🤣🤣🤣
Some fans actually pointed this out to him the moment he said he’d donate to charity. There will be photo ops with the kids to deceive onlookers. Most of that half a mil will line corrupt administrators’ pockets. It’s unfortunate.
At least we all know the use of technology
Only educated people should go to work, isu a big NO we just receive grants.Why you should work when people are always on your side.Work Smart not Hard.LOL