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 on Toolz’s Bounce series on YouTube, where he discussed the challenges of pushing African music to a global audience.
The music mogul explained that making a song successful worldwide takes 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.”
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 revelation quickly spread across social media, sparking debates about how much labels spend on Afrobeats.
Watch the video here:
“We spent close to $4-5 million to promote Rema’s “Calm Down” and get it to where it is”
— OLAMIDE 🌸💖 (@Olamide0fficial) December 11, 2025
- Don Jazzy pic.twitter.com/iSnlpoyb51
Calm Down’s Historic Wins
Rema Calm Down in 2022 from his debut album Rave & Roses. The song blew up even more 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.
Calm Down also became the first African song to cross 1 billion streams on Spotify.
