AFRICAN ARTISTS THINGS NEED TO CHANGE (COVID-19 EFFECT)

The COVID-19 has hit all industries across the globe and the music industry is no exception. Live performances have been grounded to a halt. This is a significant blow in the industry! While we can assume that the effect of the pandemic might last longer than we realize, there are also great opportunities for African artists who are willing to do things differently.

The risks to public health and safety have meant that Live Events, the single most significant revenue stream for those in the music industry, have been put to stop for now! All the big festivals have been cancelled. Other sectors affected include aspiring musicians, session instrumentalists, sound engineers, booking agents, record shop owners, DJs, labels, tour managers, event staff, and more. Their entire income is at risk without these events taking place.

South African Rapper Cassper Nyovest’s tweet about covid-19

As the Live Music industry takes a big dip, there is a big opportunity in music streaming according to the new Nielsen report, focusing on visual media, which suggests that the “novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is bound to affect media consumption habits”, before nothing that “staying put in our homes can lead to almost a 60% increase in the amount of content we watch”. So what does this mean? The more content you have out for public consumption, the better chance you have of being discovered. With regards to content, visual content will play a major part in discoverability on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, etc in driving traffic to your page hereby increasing engagement with your fans.

So what are those opportunities that have not been fully utilised by African/Afrobeats Artists in the past?

WHAT AFRICAN ARTISTS NEED TO DO TO WEATHER THE STORM (LOCKDOWN)

1. Focus on other income sources. Most African artists focus mostly on their Live Performance as a key income generator; in most cases, it’s the only area they care about while other income streams such as merchandising have been ignored for years.

It’s a shame because of the number of artists I see that perform 4 to 5 times a week and do not sell any type of mechanise (even a T-shirt) though they have thousands coming to their shows regularly.

In Rock, Hip-hop, and other genres, merchandise is an additional source of income and a significant one that they do not play with.

These areas are overlooked for the following reasons:

• The African artist/label does not have the infrastructure or know-how
• They do not have the right team to organize and plan a merchandising strategy.
•  They are unwilling to hand it over to a well-organized group or company because they want to own 100% of the proceeds

Why not team up with a merchandising company that will supply all the goods (t-shirts, baseball caps, calendars, USB sticks), etc. with the artist’s permission to use his/her likeness. They will sell and give the artist a percentage of sales. It is an additional income source that can go into promotion, paying for PR, or even towards recording the next album. The artist does not have to control everything, especially if they don’t have the expertise and know-how.

If you print 200 t-shirts to sell at every show, which costs $3 to make, put your image on it with some lyrics and sell for $15-£20 each. These can also be sold on Shopify and the artist’s website. You be surprised how much you would be making as the mark-up is pretty good. ‘’Your brand should go everywhere your music does.’’

In 2016, sales of music merch hit $3.1 billion Ref (rolling Stone.) Having a piece of that pie would not be a bad idea.

2. Reduce the performance fee! As the whole world begins to recoup their losses and get back to business as usual, the artist would also need to make the necessary adjustments to their performance fees and riders accordingly. The promoter may not be able to fly you and three people on business class, nor fly in your 10-man entourage to perform abroad, nor pay that $100K or 10M Naira performance fee. As it may not be justifiable to the brand, head offices and promoters will be unwilling to fork out large amounts in the future. Be ready to take a pay cut on your performance fee.

3. Pay more attention to streaming!!! The excuse I hear African artists give for not paying as much attention to streaming is that data is very expensive in some part of Africa. Even if that is the case, we live in a global village and not in a localized market. What I have noticed is that artists would rather spend money on promoting their music on radio and TV and that’s great. However, when we are talking about multiple streams of income, it is vital to have a sizeable budget for promoting online content via streaming platforms and running ads to those platforms. So, for example, you should have a budget for digital ads such as Facebook, Google, and YouTube, which helps drive traffic to the streaming platforms, e.g., Spotify, Apple Music, BoomPlay, etc. As your music is generating streams, you are getting paid as well. Run YouTube ads to your music videos and, you will be making multiple incomes for each song played.

4. More collaborative projects – This should be the trend moving forward in 2020 and beyond. Multiple artists are coming together to put in their resources and talent and create a plan joint EP/album. Examples of collaborative projects include Chemistry by Falz & Simi, Watch The Throne by Jay-Z & Kanye West, and 2 Kings by Olamide and Phyno. This has a lot of benefits from both pulling in their combined resources together as respective labels might have to pull back on financial commitments as they try to recoup post the COVID-19 effect of lost revenues. Artists can also leverage each other’s fan base to grow and give the audience something different. It also presents international project opportunities; imagine a Praiz & Chris Brown, Yemi Alade & Adele, Tiwa Savage & Rihanna, or Wizkid & Stormzy. This combination is something that will excite any music fan to want to go stream and watch the shows.

5. Music Placement for Films / Games. It is one of the untapped opportunities, in my opinion, for the Afrobeat/African artist. Placing your music in a blockbuster movie, TV Show, or Video game music can range from $5000 to $500,000 depending on several factors such as the total budget of the film, the type of contract, the duration, and how famous the song is for the movie. Other things to consider include royalties (performance, sync, sheet music, foreign and mechanical royalties) from just one music placement. A great way to get music placement opportunities can be by reaching out to TV production companies, music libraries, and music publishers.

Conclusion

As the world around us is changing, African artists must adapt to the changes and continue to find innovative ways to generate more money rather than rely on just live music performances. Even if all the events come back tomorrow, there is a big chance that fewer music fans will be willing to pay or attend live events for a while. The industry will continue to face further economic impact, as more large-scale music festivals will close their doors due to fears for public safety. The enormous potential losses may force some event organizers to go out of business, due to the company relying so heavily on revenues from attendees.

Written by Steve Osagie

Steve Osagie popularly known as STEVE SPOTLIGHT is the CEO of Spotlight MGT & Consultancy and founder of Spotlight Digital Marketing. He is an International Talent Manager & Music Consultant & Digital promotion with over 15yrs of experience in the music industry.

Steve also has over 5yrs experience in music Conference Production working with music organisations including MIDEM both in France and Nigeria He is a leading advocate for Afrobeats and continues to lend his expertise to grow the industry in Nigeria and internationally by connecting both worlds through his companies.

He is passionate about educating the African Artists where they can sustain a successful long career. He provides a highly popular podcast series on Music Business Success

Steve is the V.P of the Association of Music Artiste Managers of Nigeria (AMAMN).

Spotlight Management & Consultancy

Music Business Success Academy

Lastly, stay up to date with all you need to know about African music at SOA, right here.

AFRICAN ARTIST THINGS NEED TO CHANGE (COVID-19 EFFECT)