Shalewa Badejo is making a name for herself by creating content that resonates with Nigerian listeners
In the music industry, Shalewa Badejo is carving out a place for herself as Head of Content Administration at M.A.D. Solutions. She has become a driving force behind the international rise of contemporary Nigerian music. She has been orchestrating campaigns that elevate powerhouse voices like Mercy Chinwo, Tim Godfrey and Sunmisola Agbebi. Most recently, she is steering the label’s groundbreaking expansion into Brazil. Shalewa’s leadership is redefining what it means to have a woman’s touch on pivotal decisions in the music industry. Her strategic insight and creative intuition have helped shape a new era of sound, visuals and organisation. One that resonates far beyond our headphones and our cultural borders. Beyond the top charts and streaming numbers lies her story of resilience, conviction, and vision.
In this edition of #MCNWorkLife, Shalewa opens up about her journey navigating the evolving music landscape, the discipline that fuels her success, and who she has had to become to thrive. With her calm authority, she offers a masterclass in balancing leadership with authenticity and laser focus.
How did you get into managing content for music?
I started at M.A.D. Solutions as an admin staff member and worked my way up to the content music department. It was fascinating to see what goes on at the back end before the public gets to listen to music. I was seeing everything that was put into place, and it just piqued my interest. I had to learn and unlearn a lot since I studied chemistry in school—music wasn’t my background at all. When I started working with them, I preferred to be in the back-end because I’ve always felt a bit shy and more comfortable when people don’t know I’m this person who does this thing.
What did you feel you had to learn and unlearn to go into this field?
As I said, I was just an admin staff. I needed to learn how their timeline worked, the assets that were needed and the things we needed to do to get a song or an album to the publishing stage. There were programs and training I had to do. For example, for YouTube, there were certain certifications we had to take to understand the work better. I had to go through all of those processes; sometimes there would be mistakes that we would have to figure out how to fix. It was important to learn how to meet, discuss and pitch with clients and team members. All of those things were part of what I had to go through before reaching here.
What does a typical day for you look like?
Aside from being the head of content admin, I also manage M.A.D. Solutions YouTube, which is a multi-channel network. On a typical day, my work involves preparing releases for upload, which includes handling audio and video files and ensuring all assets are delivered correctly. I also communicate with artists and partners about how their releases are performing. We also manage copyright infringement, create playlists where needed, and ensure that the YouTube channel for artists and creators is up to par. The communication channel has to be opened because it’s very important to discuss and let them know what’s going on with the back end and with their releases.
I have agents and workers that I dedicate tasks to, especially on YouTube, which has a lot of copyright infringement. This is a very important aspect of this job, and I try to make sure that part is well covered every day. I also check on them properly, and I ensure that they are working on it. Then we make sure all our contents are optimised and that it’s protected. Before you know it is the end of the day, there is a whole lot that goes behind a release.
What’s one challenge you’ve faced with the work that you do, and how do you go about fixing it?
One of our biggest issues is copyright on YouTube. Everybody wants to be a YouTuber. Many people take intellectual properties of artists, they try to remodel it in an unscrupulous way and try to reupload it so that they can make money. For example, maybe someone releases their original song, and people will take this song, create a lyric video and just upload it. I see lots of this daily. Some people take different normal gospel songs and they just mix them and put them up as their own intellectual property.
People even take my entire content, reupload it with a new title, and claim it as their own. And when I take it down, some of them reach out, hurling insults. What I see on a daily basis is very funny. Some people say, “We’re just promoting it”. You get paid for someone else’s intellectual property, and you’re saying you’re just promoting it for them. It’s clearly not yours, and you don’t have permission; you’re just choosing to take it. This is a very big issue we normally have to deal with.
We also face issues with old labels, where we have to fight for ownership claims from them. Let’s say I have an artist coming to M.A.D. solutions, and we’ve moved the catalogue — moving a catalogue involves uploading all of the artist’s old songs to our back end. Now that we own the copyright to it, the former label is supposed to transfer all the ownership claims. But instead, I find myself on YouTube’s back end telling these people that I have copyright to this song or this album, please release it. That might take days, sometimes weeks, before they even respond. A few labels just have automatic responses, and you still have to go back and forth before they release it.
It doesn’t help that I’m a female; in the music industry as a whole, they automatically profile me. When I’m replying to their emails, my name is clearly there, and I have a female name, but they still address me as Sir.
When people call my personal line, they know I’m a woman, but they still speak rudely, making comments like “Why can’t you do this?” I’ve cried so many times about this; it is a personal conviction for me. So many times I have cried to my male colleagues and asked them why these people are talking to me like this. It feels like it’s because they know I’m a woman. They don’t talk to my other male colleagues like this. It’s part of the challenges I face within this line of work, which also contributes to why sometimes I just prefer to be working in the back end.
After a while, I will just laugh over it and let it go because if I don’t, what would I do? There’s really nothing we can do to change everyone. I feel like it’s just something that happens everywhere. If you try to address it, they gaslight you. They’re always like, “No, they didn’t mean it.. If it gets out of hand, I will direct them to my male colleagues. That’s how we try to manage things so that it won’t blow out of proportion, and it will still be manageable.
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The label recently expanded into Brazil, which is a huge step. Can you walk us through your role in that international launch?
For the Brazil label, we are currently still in the onboarding phase. For the software we used to deliver the information, we had to create a sub-account for our Brazilian workers. Sometimes there were so many mistakes with the work, even though we tried as much as possible to have a consistent communication channel to avoid this. When they do a batch of the uploads, they inform us. Then I go in and I ensure everything is correct. I’ll inform them. “This delivery is done. Can you please check if everything is in its right place?” We’ve been able to maintain a pace and communication for everyone to ensure that things are running smoothly.
There is also a communication barrier when we have to upload to YouTube and they work in another language. The first two times that I tried to do it, they let me know that the language was not correct, the description or details were wrong. I was working with Google Translate, and I had to copy and translate into their language. Many times, I might not get the correct phrase, and they would inform me to correct it.
What would be one of the skills that has helped you succeed in this job?
I believe, first of all, you need to be patient with everything and learn to be discerning. You have to be able to work well under pressure. Sometimes things can just happen all at the same time, and it’s important to remain calm and delegate if you have to. Under no circumstances might I break down only at the end of the project, then if you want to, just break down. Learning to take things as they come and finding a solution amidst the chaos.
How do you deal with burnout?
Right now, I’ve taken a week off — I won’t lie to you. Sometimes I’m so overworked I cry, and then I’ll just send an email saying I just need some days off. I will do the little I can from wherever I am and delegate the rest. It’s vital to take the time off, just take two or three days off. When I do this, I’m usually on my own, and I spend the time thinking and trying to restrategize. This allows me to come back feeling really refreshed.
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What’s something you do that instantly makes you feel calm and relaxed?
I cook, I took a two-week crash course on cooking. Usually, I do that on the side when I need to rest or relax. I just get in the kitchen and start cooking. It’s just something I truly enjoy. I like it when I cook for people, even though I’ve been on my feet for hours.
The cooking class was nice, but it was very stressful because you have to be on your feet from early morning to 4:00 p.m. It was actually a lot of work. I’m sure I felt sick after all of that stress. I was also doing this work on the side at that particular time, and I still had to join meetings. Then I had to ensure that releases were going smoothly, and I had to be in the kitchen on my feet from 9 to 4 p.m. I don’t know how I did it during that period, but for those two weeks, I was a superwoman. It was actually a very good time for me. I was somewhere where I loved doing what I loved to do, and I also had my job that I obviously also loved. One of my dreams is to eventually open my own restaurant.
Gospel music is having a really popular moment right now. How do you think that popularity is affecting the content that you’re putting out?
Before, we didn’t really pay much importance to it, but right now we are really prioritising their content. Their numbers are large, especially on YouTube, so we have to monitor what we put out for them. When I’m doing their uploads, I have to be super careful that their content is separate from secular artists.
What is one career moment that affirmed you’re exactly where you’re meant to be?
Like I mentioned earlier, music wasn’t the field I studied in school; I was in a lab for chemistry. So, coming into the industry and seeing how things were working in the back end was fascinating. When I got promoted to the head of the department and I had to train people, that sealed it for me. I started from here, and now I am having to train people and mentor young minds who are fascinated with what I do and want to do it too.
This is what I enjoy doing. Also having my bosses’ bosses acknowledge the impact I was making on the business truly affirmed that I was heading in the right direction. It felt like they were giving me my flowers for all the work I put in.
