Veteran Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has said Nigerian music, particularly Afrobeats, achieved global recognition faster than the country’s film industry largely because of funding challenges within Nollywood.

Speaking in a recent episode of the Afropolitan podcast, the actress explained that music production is significantly less expensive compared to filmmaking, making it easier for artists to reach international audiences.

According to her, the high cost of producing films continues to slow the global expansion of Nollywood.

“What is holding Nollywood back is mostly funding. With music, it is not really as expensive to create. Except if you want to shoot lavish music videos, which are rare these days,” she said.

The actress, who is also a singer and former record label owner, noted that the current digital era has made it easier for musicians to create content that can quickly go viral without heavy financial investment.

“Because easy viral ideas make more impact than packaged billion-dollar budget videos. So you notice that a lot of artists are now just having fun in their house or with friends, and they record it, and people like it because it is organic,” she added.

“But you can’t do that with film, unfortunately. The cheapest movie would probably still have like 30 cast and crew,” she explained.