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Popular music producer and audio engineer Aiyeobasan Tosin Elijah widely known as Frettic in music circles has shared his opinion on the ongoing comparison between gospel and secular music industries in Nigeria.
According to him, both sectors are successful in their own right, but they each face challenges and opportunities.
“Success is relative,” Frettic told our correspondent. “What is counted as success to one man may not be another person’s definition of success. Both are successful in their own ways.”
The experienced producer further opined that gospel music’s success is seen in its ability to lead people to Christ. “The gospel music is becoming a great pathway leading people to Christ—this is success to the genre,” he said.
On the other hand, secular music has become increasingly lucrative for its artists, which Frettic also considers a form of success. “The secular music has become more lucrative to its musicians than ever—this is success to that genre as well.”
Despite these successes, Frettic pointed out that each genre faces distinct challenges. For gospel artists, the primary challenge is maintaining spiritual integrity in their music. “To the gospel artiste, the greatest challenge is trying to stay away from canality in music,” he explained. Meanwhile, secular artists often struggle with avoiding scandals, which can negatively impact their careers.
In a similar vein, Frettic also spoke on the significant growth of gospel music in Nigeria, attributing much of this evolution to the role of music producers. “Producers these days, in most cases, have had a little taste of music from every genre possible,” he said. “It’s easier to infuse these into music and make the music generally more ‘palatable’ to the end user.”
“We are simply mixing all we have gained from here and there to further add touches to what we work on,” he concluded.
