Kanayo O. Kanayo Demands Lifetime Streaming Royalties for Nollywood Stars, Reigniting Industry Pay Debate

Veteran Nollywood actor Kanayo O. Kanayo has put the Nigerian film industry's most uncomfortable financial conversation back at the centre of public discourse, publicly demanding that streaming platforms introduce lifetime royalty payments for Nigerian film stars and refusing to let the industry's uncomfortable relationship with money remain a private grievance.

Visblog has been monitoring the growing tension within Nollywood over how the shift to streaming has changed the economics of the film industry for actors, particularly for those whose work built the industry's catalogue but who signed contracts in an era when streaming did not exist. 

Kanayo's intervention, made publicly and with the directness that has become his trademark both on and off screen, has landed at a moment when the industry is processing significant commercial success while many of its foundational contributors are not sharing meaningfully in that success. 

The demand for lifetime royalties is not a new concept in global entertainment.

In Hollywood, the Screen Actors Guild has fought for and won residual payment structures that ensure actors receive ongoing compensation every time their work is rebroadcast, streamed, or otherwise commercially exploited after its initial release.

Those structures were won through decades of collective bargaining, strikes, and legal action. 

In Nigeria, no equivalent collective negotiating framework exists, and the contracts signed by actors, particularly in the early and mid periods of Nollywood's development, typically provided for one-time payments with no residual component. 

The arrival of streaming platforms, including Netflix, Prime Video, and several Africa-focused platforms that have aggressively licensed Nigerian content in recent years, has created a situation that Kanayo and other industry veterans find fundamentally unjust. 

Films made for a fraction of their current commercial value, featuring performances that established the international credibility of Nollywood as a brand, are now being watched by millions of subscribers around the world. 

The platforms collect subscription revenue. The distributors who hold the rights collect licensing fees. The actors who are on screen collect nothing. 

Visblog gathered reports from the Association of Movie Producers and the Actors Guild of Nigeria on Kanayo’s demand and on whether formal negotiations with streaming platforms are underway.

The Actors Guild of Nigeria confirmed awareness of the issue but declined to provide details of any ongoing discussions. 

The Association of Movie Producers did not respond by publication time. The legal complexity of the royalties question is significant. 

Many of the rights to Nollywood's back catalogue were sold outright during the home video era to distributors and marketers who acquired them for flat fees.

Those distributors, not the original producers or actors, are in many cases the parties now negotiating streaming licences.

Even if a platform were willing to introduce a royalty structure, the chain of rights ownership is often complex enough to make it difficult to determine who should receive payments and in what proportion. 

Warner Music Group's ongoing dispute with Burna Boy over his early catalogue rights, which Visblog has been tracking, illustrates how the rights questions can become contentious even when the commercial stakes are clear and the parties are well-resourced.

For Nollywood actors negotiating individually against platforms and distributors with legal teams and established commercial practices, the challenge is considerably steeper. 

What Kanayo's intervention does, regardless of its immediate practical outcome, is elevate the conversation to a level where it cannot easily be dismissed. He is not a struggling actor seeking charity. 

He is one of the most recognisable figures in the history of Nigerian cinema, and his willingness to make this demand publicly carries the authority of someone whose contribution to the industry is not in dispute. 

Visblog gathered from entertainment industry sources this week that discussions about a more formal collective advocacy structure for Nollywood actors have been ongoing in various informal settings for the past year, and that Kanayo's public statement has added momentum to those conversations. 

Whether that momentum translates into organised collective action, formal negotiations with platforms, or legislative advocacy for changes to how copyright and royalties work under Nigerian law remains to be seen. 

What is already clear is that Nollywood's commercial success has outpaced the development of the legal and contractual frameworks needed to ensure that success is shared equitably. 

The industry is generating international acclaim, attracting global investment, and building a diaspora audience that spans every continent.

The actors at the centre of that story deserve a system that reflects their contribution to it.

Visblog will continue monitoring the royalties debate, the Actors Guild's response, and any developments in the regulatory or legislative framework governing how Nigerian creative professionals are compensated for their work on streaming platforms.