Executives discuss future of African music in Miami

The gathering, held at Joy Miami Studio, brought together music producers, filmmakers and executives from LVRN, YouTube, Spotify, Beats by Dre and COLORSxSTUDIOS.

It was hosted by the media and entertainment brand Amplify Africa as part of its Road to AFRICON round-table conversation to discuss the challenges facing African artists and how they can break through on a global scale.

The round table is the first pop-up event Amplify Africa has hosted this year ahead of its fourth annual AFRICON, a multi-day conference and celebration of African culture, innovation and entrepreneurship held in Los Angeles. AFRICON features panel discussions centred on immersive experiences and its goal of uniting the global black diaspora. 

Professionals in attendance included Amplify Africa CEO and co-founder Dami Kujembola, Amplify Africa COO and co-founder Timi Adeyeba, Beats by Dre music and culture global brand marketing manager Buku Ibraheem, YouTube programme manager of black music and culture Adam McFarland and LVRN president and co-founder Tunde Balogun. Others were COLORSxSTUDIOS CEO Jonas Weber, Metro PR music lead publicist Taylor Webster, senior manager, partnerships and business development at the Recording Academy/Grammys Len Brown, Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire, the CEO and founder of Adisa Consultants, Abiola Oke, Spotify artist partnerships lead Kimmy Summers and film producer and director Ade O'Adesina, among others.

Topics featured in the discussion included how to harness the cultural power of African music to achieve international breakthroughs and brand partnerships. The round table also discussed the similarities between the slow recognition of Afrobeats and America’s gradual acceptance of hip hop.

“It took America a long time to fully give hip hop the money that it was supposed to get. Now, hip hop artists are cashing out,” Balogun said. “So, I think we need to be a little patient, but also push forward and know that we’re going to have to kick some doors down. I tell my friends, ‘My people, at the labels and investment firms you have to almost be willing to lose money to go into a new market and be first and really put your foot down, because you’re going to have to try some things out that other people aren’t’.”

According to a recently released report by Luminate, African music has been steadily making inroads in the US market. Artists like Burna Boy, Wizkid and Davido have sold out stadiums, while Rema and Tyla have conquered the Billboard charts. 

And for the first time, the Recording Academy will give out an award in the Best African Music Performance at the Grammys on 5 February. This comes after the American Music Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards introduced their own Afrobeats awards. 

Nevertheless, the round table stressed that as much as genres like Nigeria’s Afrobeats and South Africa’s amapiano have been breaking out of the African continent, much more needs to be done for these sounds to be fully integrated in the global mainstream market.