Afrobeats As A Tool For Cultural Export

The result of Afrobeats crossing its West African borders has not only impacted music, but it has also been a vehicle for food, dance and language export.

This cultural exportation currently taking place thanks to Afrobeats’ prevalence in mainstream global media is the focus of this week’s update to Spotify’s Afrobeats: Journey of a Billion Streams site.

Launched by Spotify last month to chronicle Afrobeats’ growth from West Africa to the global stages, the site has so far journeyed through Afrobeats origins in Ghana and Nigeria, the evolution into the current sound, and its fusion with other genres.

New this week

Afrobeats surge in popularity can be linked to several factors including international collaborations, the power of social media, the rise in music streaming and the African diaspora. According to Spotify-commissioned research conducted by Kuvora, 28% of fans believe that international collaborations is one of the key factors driving the growth of Afrobeats.

The findings from the research and a deep dive article into Afrobeats as a tool for cultural export are included in this week’s site update. The experts are back, sharing insights into the globalisation of Afrobeats. This week’s videos feature:

• Benewaah Boateng, Spotify’s West Africa Editor

• Efya, a Ghanaian artist

• Seyi Shay, a Nigerian singer and songwriter

• Kofi Bansah, a Ghanaian music producer

• Obi Asika, CEO of Storm Records, one of Nigeria’s pioneer music labels

• May7ven, a UK based Afrobeats artist and pioneer

Afrobeats and streaming

There is a certain level of democratization that has occurred in the music industry, thanks to music streaming. Spotify’s commitment is to ensure that African creators earn from their art, by exposing them to 550 million active users on the platform, resulting in new audiences and more streams for the artists.

Artists deserve clarity about the economics of music streaming. Spotify launched its now annual report, Loud & Clear, to increase transparency in the music industry by sharing data on Spotify’s royalty payments and breaking down the global streaming economy, the players and the process.

In 2022, revenues generated by Nigerian artists from Spotify alone reached over 11,000,000,000 NGN. While Nigerian music industry revenues overall have grown 63% from 2021 to 2022 (according to IFPI), revenues generated by Nigerian artists – from Spotify alone – grew 74% over this same time period.

The number of Nigerian artists who generated more than 5M NGN and 10M NGN in royalties from Spotify alone has increased by nearly 25% over the last year. This figure represents revenue generated from Spotify alone, and does not take into account earnings from other services and recorded revenue streams, concert tickets or merch.

“Our commitment at Spotify is to ensure that professional musicians make a living from their work. Releasing the revenues generated by Nigerian artists in 2022 on our platform is our way of keeping ourselves accountable, and keeping true to our mission to enable artists to live off their art” says Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Spotify’s Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Other data updates

In addition to the data on the revenues generated by Nigerian artists, there is also new data on:

• Top exported Afrobeats albums

• Top exported Afrobeats artists

• Top exported Afrobeats tracks

• Top exported female Afrobeats tracks

Some of the top cities, outside of Lagos, where Afrobeats is getting the most streams are London, Paris, Abuja, Nairobi, Amsterdam and Accra.

Cultural Export is currently live on afrobeats.byspotify.com.