Young artiste asks banks, govt to fund upcoming talents

Nigerian upcoming artiste, Marcel Obute, popularly known as “D Masel”, has urged banks and other government agencies to provide accessible loan facilities with friendly interest rates for outstanding young artistes to grow in the industry. Obute, a student of Music at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, started as an artiste four years ago. He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that difficulty in accessing funds remained the biggest challenge facing such upcoming artistes in Nigeria. The young artiste decried the inability of his likes in getting the backup fund to record their audios and videos to meet the international standards. “Financial challenge is a major setback; young artistes need avenue to obtain loan from private organisations and even from the government. “We need to be assisted in producing our works through provision of accessible loan facilities with friendly interest rate. “There are existing loan platforms already created for artistes, but these facilities are not accessible to the young musicians, except the seasoned ones. “We need these financial institutions to make the loan facilities as transparent and accessible as possible to this category of musicians,” Obute said. D Masel also cited the inability to meet with some celebrities, who could help these young artistes in the country and abroad, as another problem being faced by them. He, however, appealed to seasoned artistes to give necessary counsel and guidance to these young talents to enhance their growth. On his newly released track, “Offense”, the artiste stated that his message was aimed at encouraging offenders to always apologise and ensure peace. “The track, “Offense” is my way of telling the world to always seek peace whenever you offend someone, to avert crisis. “It is better to be at peace rather than creating division or crisis within the family and the society at large,” Obute said. Obute said that he dedicated the song to Obi Cubana because of his achievements, assistance to the needy and the contributions to the entertainment industry.