Nigerian rapper Ice Prince has opened up about the financial realities behind his 2010 hit song, Oleku, revealing that the massive success of the track did not translate into significant earnings at the time.
Oleku, featuring Brymo, became one of the most remixed songs in Nigerian music history and played a major role in establishing Ice Prince as one of the country’s leading hip-hop acts.
The song became the lead single from his debut album, Everybody Loves Ice Prince, released in 2011, and quickly spread beyond Nigeria to other parts of West Africa.
Ice Prince recalled seeing pirated copies of his music in countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, despite never having visited some of the places where his songs were being sold and played.
According to him, the widespread piracy meant that the popularity of his music did not correspond with the money he earned from it.
Despite the success of the album, Ice Prince said he received only N4 million for the entire project.
At the time, piracy was a major challenge in Nigeria’s music industry, with albums being copied and sold widely without artists and record labels receiving corresponding royalties.
However, the emergence of streaming platforms years later has changed the financial landscape, allowing older songs to continue generating revenue long after their original release.
Ice Prince has said royalties from his music catalogue today are better than what he earned during the Alaba-era, highlighting how digital streaming has transformed the business of Nigerian music.
