Spotify in Africa: Is Kenya the Biggest Beneficiary?

Spotify is physically in Africa and consumers can’t keep calm! On February 23, 2021, the world’s largest streaming service announced that it had launched in 84 more countries across the world including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania. That means more platforms and choices for African consumers as they will be competing alongside Apple Music, Boomplay, Audiomack, YouTube Music, Deezer, and Mdundo. Upon the announcement, the first question that came to this writer’s mind is what took them so long and why now?

Ambitious.Africa could not get any answers directly from Spotify representatives by the time we published this article but we came across an explanation by Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Africa has become the continent with the youngest population across the world. Internet penetration is also growing fast across the continent,” Phiona was quoted by Pulse Nigeria, an online news site.

So is the consumer’s excitement for having one more streaming site going to mean anything for the musicians?

Mike Strano, the organizer of Ongea Summit, an Eastern African music industry collaborative initiative believes that this is timely and will be very beneficial.

“I believe that I speak on behalf of the creative industry when I say this is gainful. The fact that there are multiple music stores shows people have a preference based on curating, cost, and customer experience. Spotify’s presence is providing variety for this in Africa,” Mike, who is also the founder of PHAT! Music & Entertainment told Ambitious.Africa. 

Time for Kenya to shine?

Compared to other markets Kenya is the country with the least music exposure globally as Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania can brag of slightly penetrating and marking their territories.  Musicians like Burna Boy, WizKid, Tiwa Savage (Nigeria), Shatta Walle (Ghana), and Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania) just to mention a few have been bearing this burden. 

Angela Ndambuki, the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Director of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), believes that Kenyan music will have an even wider global platform, besides the already existing platforms and that greater listenership translates to greater income eventually. 

“It’s like exporting a Kenyan product into a greater or wider market. The timing is appropriate given that the local music industry has grown over years. Some of our artists such as Nyashinki, Khaligraph Jones, Willy Paul, Nadia Mukami, Octopizzo, among others today command continental following while others like Sauti Sol have put Kenya on the global music map through great collabos, winning awards such as AFRIMMA and MTV Europe Music Awards and getting nominated to BET Awards,” she said. 

With the internet becoming the ‘new radio’ and therefore, a primary driver of music industry growth, Angela who is also a former musician, predicts that the Kenyan music industry will be worth more in coming years.

“Digitization of music is a response to the growth of the internet and smartphone – by 2023 Kenyan internet market, for instance, will be worth USD 2.1 billion while the music industry will be worth USD 24 million,” she explained, quoting PwC Entertainment and Media Outlook Forecast 2018 to 2023.

Her sentiments were echoed by local fast-rising musician, Parroty. He advised upcoming musicians to take this opportunity and join the platform so that they can as well gain from it.

“This is great for the music industry as we have seen a rise in online streaming services and it’s healthy for the music industry as in previous years we only used to upload on YouTube but now we have many platforms which are available locally and internationally,” said Parroty whose music is already available on the platform.

External industry players are also excited about this news and the possibilities it could bring. Peter Åstedt founder of record label Musichelp Sweden AB, believes that Spotify will highlight Kenyan musicians and producers’ ability to create quality music. 

“I found this out after attending the ONGEA summit in Nairobi a few years ago. Now that Kenyan musicians can also be on Spotify and market themselves beyond home audience it makes more sense to push their music more on this platform. Many of the international collaborations depend on using the same platform for both brands to benefit and this will be the big push into the international scene that Kenya needed," said Peter, who over the years has handled over 10,000 musicians globally through his company.

Loopholes

With artists and the industry rights holders concerned with illegal sites that engage in piracy and illegal use of their recordings, there is a question of whether streaming platforms are part of their headache. 

Liz Lenjo, Entertainment & IP Lawyer and founder of MYIP Legal Studio however cautions musicians against missing legal loopholes and advises that they should protect themselves by always reading the agreements and pop-up contracts before uploading their music.

“As a musician, take your time and be deliberate with business decisions. Backtrack and review all the previous contractual agreements you have signed and assess how they affect your business in the future. Engage the services of an entertainment lawyer to help you when putting your ducks in a row. So much can go wrong by the uninformed click of a button or stroke of a pen,” she said.

Better life?

While most industry players are beaming with positivity, Shaffie Weru, a programs controller at Homeboyz Radio is of a different opinion. He thinks that Spotify is only beneficial to Kenyan and African artists for hype's sake which may not mean anything to their wallet.

“Just like Netflix, Kenyans are happy to have access to Spotify like the rest of the world. That said, you need to understand how much and methods applied to make money from Spotify first. You need to have 250 streams to make a dollar. Therefore, if you are not among the big cats in the industry, Spotify’s presence does not mean that musicians will become millionaires overnight,” Shaffie, who has been in the showbiz industry for over 20 years, said.

By: Cate Mukei