Fan armies are becoming toxic; can be detrimental to the industry- Baba Sadiq

Media Entrepreneur and Politician, Sadiq Abdulai Abu, popularly known as Baba Sadiq has described fan armies as becoming “toxic,” expressing concern for the negative impact it may have on music marketing.

According to the CEO of 3Music Networks, while having healthy banter online amongst fans is normal and welcome, the extremity of it can damage artists reputation, and affect the industry as a whole.

Speaking in an interview with Andy Dosty on Hitz FM, Baba Sadiq said;

“At a certain point, the competitive aspect of fan army banter became a bit extreme. I mean, it’s fine for fans of different activities to engage in banter; we do it in sports like football. But when it becomes excessively toxic, it raises concerns.

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“I mean, we’re analyzing the impact of fan armies, and we’re looking at it from the era when they were very effective in music marketing. You would notice that in the last few months, the music marketing landscape has been constantly evolving for the better.

“Just like in football, where I support Accra Hearts of Oak and you support Kotoko, we can tease each other, joke about things, and all of that. But sometimes, when we look at it from a broader perspective, we all want football to develop and progress, especially on a continental level. We are at a point where global corporations are looking for the next big talent, particularly from Ghana in Africa,” he added.

In Ghana, the most prominent fan armies that are always engaging in both healthy and unhealthy banter on social media are, SM Fans (Shatta Wale), BHIM Fans (Stonebwoy), and   Sark Nation (Sarkodie).