Don Jazzy Mentions Amount Mavin Records Spent to Promote Rema’s Calm Down
- Don Jazzy revealed that Mavin Records spent between $4 million and $5 million to push Rema’s Calm Down during an interview on Toolz’s show
- He explained that the label uses a “conquer one region, then move to the next” strategy to take African music global
- Nigerians reacted with mixed feelings; some questioned the figures, while others said the investment was needed for worldwide success
- Music and entertainment analyst, Smith Adebimpe, defended Don Jazzy’s figures and explained why such spending is normal in the industry
Don Jazzy, the boss of Mavin Records, has revealed that the label spent between $4 million and $5 million to promote Rema’s hit song Calm Down.
He made this known on December 11, 2025, during an interview with Toolz on Bounce FM, where he discussed the challenges of pushing African music to a global audience.
Source: Instagram
The music mogul explained that making a song successful worldwide requires constant promotion and smart moves in different markets.
He said the label’s style is to first dominate one region before investing again to break into another.
“A song like Calm Down, we probably spent close to $4–5 million to get it to where it is,” Don Jazzy said.
When the interviewer reacted with shock at the amount, the producer replied:
“The lifestyle cost, na you no know.”
The investment covered many costs.
Mavin’s winning strategy
Don Jazzy said the money spent has brought huge returns for both Rema and the label.
He explained that breaking into big markets takes well-planned, high-budget campaigns, just like what top Western pop stars do.
He also stressed that the investment was needed to show people that success in music doesn’t just happen overnight.
The revelation shows the kind of heavy investment needed to push African artists to the world stage.
This strategy has now placed Rema as a major international star in the Afrobeats scene.
The huge spending went into promotions, international tours, lifestyle expenses, radio plays, and big collaborations.
The video quickly spread across social media, sparking debates about how much labels spend on Afrobeats.
Watch the video here:
Calm Down’s Historic Wins
Calm Down by Rema from his debut album Rave & Roses was released in 2022.
The song gained even more popularity after Selena Gomez joined him on the remix in August 2022.
It climbed to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest spot ever for a Nigerian-led track at the time.
Source: Instagram
Calm Down also became the first African song to cross 1 billion streams on Spotify.
The track is still one of the longest-charting African songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
Reactions trail Jazzy’s interview on Calm Down
Legit.ng compiled the reactions of netizens below:
@VelvetNoir__ asked:
"So it wasn't organic?"
@BooBoy27 commented:
"The song was good guy and Rema was already hot before that song blew. Don Jazzy Dey lie to make the industry look more miserable."
@olusegun_tynobucks said:
"The remix topped Canada chart so it's definitely worth it."
@bigivanlifestyle opined:
"So how much dem expect from the song? 1billion dollars?"
@nech_6 stated:
"Jazzy take am easy o, this lamba no too much ??"
@emmanueljoseph95 wrote:
"This music business you need to understand all strategies before investing oh!!!📻✍️"
@tochi_lifestyle said:
"If you doubt the figure, you don't know anything about music business."
@ozedy_baba1 commented:
"Bad guy.. he mention the money spent but refuse to mention the money made. Don baba J🙌🙌"
@iam__jamiee questioned:
"Roody ricch's networth is $20m and rems is using $4.5m to promote a song? Make una Dey think nau."
@bugzydvinci stated:
"He ain't capping paying 50k a week or monthly to remain in top 3 charts or something amongst other playlisting and payola and promo."
@godie74 opined:
"I believe say baba dey exaggerate the money so to able able to achieve more from the song."
@sir_richie_derrick wrote:
"Revenue figures are also private but the amount spend is always loud 😂😂😂😂 Artist Shey una Dey learn after you minus the money spend artist and label go come share the remaining amount 70/30 Omo label boss Dey make money oo some money spend dem Dey call nah audio oo but everywhere still good."
Don Jazzy’s figures make sense – Adebimpe
Music and entertainment analyst, Smith Adebimpe, defended Don Jazzy’s figures and explained why such spending is normal in the industry.
He stated:
"To me, I would not say Don Jazzy lied or exaggerated the figures. Those questioning the amount likely do not have insider knowledge of how music production and promotion work or how expensive the process is. From a capitalist perspective, business owners are not expected to justify every expense, as music is a major business that requires significant investment, just like any other industry. These expenses include logistics, production costs, tours, influencer payments, media promotion, mastering, backup singers, and other promotional activities, all of which require substantial funding. Some producers even charge as much as N15 million or more. So, for music that achieved global success like Calm Down by Rema, it is reasonable to conclude that a large amount of investment was made to make that possible."
Rema makes TIME100 Next 2025 list
Legit.ng earlier reported that Rema was named on the 2025 TIME100 Next list, which celebrates the world’s most influential rising stars.
The Afrobeats star stood out as the only African artist honoured in this year’s edition.
The list celebrated emerging leaders across music, film, sports, science, politics, and philanthropy. Other global music figures included Teyana Taylor and GloRilla.
Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
