Mannywellz captivates DSP listeners with new single titled ‘Looking for God’

Since the start of the year, independent artist Mannywellz has repeatedly announced to fans via his X account that he will not be releasing music on Spotify or Apple Music in 2024. The independent R&B artist is known for producing and recording his own music, which usually takes influences from the worlds of soul, pop, and Afrobeats. He claimed he’ll be releasing 24 songs in 2024, and only 8 will be on DSPs. But it does seem that the Nigerian-born, Maryland-based artist cares as deeply for his fans as he does about earning a pittance from DSPs for the music he works so hard to put out.

Mannywellz is probably the most genuinely vulnerable lover boy singer—who makes music for equally love-struck individuals—you’ll ever come across. Since his first Ep ‘SoulFro’ in 2017, he’s collaborated with big-shot artists like Tems and Wale on his Mirage Ep in 2019 and Pink Sweat$ on the Mr. Oúlala Ep in 2023. Year after year, he’s relentlessly created and churned out music, mostly EPs, to cater to and build a loyal following of lovers of his craft.

There is no denying that he loves what he does more than anything, but when faced with the dilemma of showing up every day to a job with little to no pay or quitting, you may want to embrace the lesser devil and face the consequences of quitting, in the hopes that you come across a better offer. Mannywellz didn’t quit, he only segmented fans; paying fans referred to as the ‘grouped’ or ‘Lala fam’ and non-paying fans or DSP listeners.

He further explained in a tweet announcing this decision that the ‘grouped’ who pay to purchase his songs digitally on a platform called Grouped get access to some perks like voting on what gets released to streaming platforms, private chat, and exclusive access to future projects. In the tweet, he says, “We used to give CDs to people; now, I’m giving virtual CDs and a deeper connection with anyone that wants it.”  He further stated that for every sale made, he’ll donate $1 to charity for as long as he’s a creative.

This move by Mannywellz was the result of streaming companies creating a mechanism that rewards poorly, making it challenging for artists to recognise the benefits of fan engagement and support. To put it in context, a DSP like Spotify pays roughly $0.004 per stream, so, 1000 streams would be $4, and 100,000 streams would be $400. In the long run, this can have an impact on the value of the artist’s music since, instead of focusing solely on their craft, they devote a portion of their time to marketing. 

On the 25th of January, while celebrating his birthday, the artist released an Ep, simply titled “January Ep (1 of 8),” that wasn’t made available on streaming platforms, but on Grouped for a fee. 

In the second week of release, the artist shared a screenshot of $957.00 in sales made from the EP, the equivalent of 250,000 streams on a DSP like Spotify. He tweeted alongside the image, “Slow and steady, we’re building.” 

But how about catering to his fans, who cannot afford to purchase his work and can only access his craft via streaming platforms? Mannywellz, as promised, released some music for this category of fans. “Your World”, which is one of the tracks on his exclusive “January Ep (1 of 8)”. It was released to DSPs on February 8th. Tracks like ‘Valentine’ and ‘Self’ off the EP remain inaccessible on streaming platforms; perhaps the release of “Your World” was meant as a little Valentine’s Day gift from the artist. On May 8th, he shared another 3-track Ep titled “The Purple Tape” on DSPs, keeping his word about not neglecting his community of listeners on streaming platforms. 

Mannywellz’s latest release was a sudden, unannounced one, making it the fifth of eight songs promised to fans this year by the artist. “Looking for God”, a 2-minute track, finds Mannywellz serendipitously discovering a love interest when he wasn’t seeking; he offers them genuine love and vulnerability. Even though his heart has been injured in several ways, he believes this love interest is exactly what he needs. 

Mannywellz is an artist who keeps creating music all year round, and the spontaneous release of “Looking for God” is clearly an act of service to his fans.

 Listen to Mannywellz’ “Looking for God” here.