With increased smartphone penetration and the advent of streaming, major entertainment companies are looking at Africa like the gold mine that it is. Adam Granite, President of Northern & Eastern Europe and Africa at Sony Music Entertainment, says: I think what really excites us is the fact that we’ve not really turned on the emerging markets when it comes to paid streaming, and when you start to do the math, when you look at some of those countries with mass populations, that’s very exciting.” South Africa streaming revenue increased an amazing 334.2% last year. Although the physical market remains important in the country, there are already over 250,000 paying subscribers on streaming services and it is expected to grow.
“With Nigeria and West Africa, we think there’s a huge opportunity for our catalogue there. We also firmly believe there’s going to be a global star that emerges from Africa. There’s huge potential for our catalogue to sell there, of course, but we believe there is repertoire, specifically from Nigeria, that can break internationally,” Says Granite. Nigerian artist WizKid was featured on the biggest selling track of 2016, Drake’s ‘One Dance’ and currently has a single called ‘Come Closer’ featuring Drake that has been circulating the airwaves, streaming sites, etc. Many artists have been releasing music independently and it is grabbing the attention of A&R’s worldwide. So expect to hear more of those new beats and rhythms, they’ll be controlling the summer.
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