International Journal of Sub-Saharan African Research (IJSSAR)

Background: The impact of Western culture on Nigeria’s music industry has been a mix of revolutionary changes and traditional preservation. This change has a transformative force, shaping the sound, style, and global reach of indigenous music, including music creation and consumption, artist collaborations, and marketing.
Objective: This study investigated how Western culture influences the Nigerian music industry in the 21st Century.
Method: Adopting the survey research design, 500 inhabitants of Nigeria who were 18 years and above were sampled using a multistage sampling technique. The respondents were selected from the six geo-political zones that constitute the configuration called Nigeria. The zones were North-Central, North-East, North-West, South-East, South-South and South-West. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire while analysis was done using simple frequency counts and percentages. Results: Western culture has influenced Nigerian music production, as overwhelming majority of the respondents (82.6%) confirmed that Western culture has a positive influence on Nigerian cultural identity in the music industry.
Conclusion: The study concludes that Western cultural influences with its transformative force has impacted many facets of the Nigeria music industry, including music creation and consumption, artist collaborations, and marketing with its attendant result in the homogenisation of musical styles, potentially threatening the diversity and richness of Nigerian music.
Unique Contribution: This study has offered new insight into the increasing influence of Western culture on Nigeria music industry, resulting to Nigerian artists intentionally blending Western genres like hip-hop, R&B, and EDM with traditional rhythms like Fuji, Juju, Afro-beats, Igbo Highlife, Afro-juju, to create globally relatable yet locally rooted music.
Key Recommendation: The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) should regulate the broadcasting of indigenous music that promotes Nigerian culture by imposing mild restrictions, among others. This will enable the Nigerian music industry to maintain its cultural originality by incorporating indigenous materials, ideas and languages in musical content which in turn will discourage the over-bearing dependence on Western genres, instruments, and production techniques into their music.