“There is no company in the world solely committed to servicing African music,” the Nigerian singer Mr. Eazi says. He aims to change that with emPawa Africa
In 2017, the Nigerian artist Joeboy released a gliding cover of Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” — a twisty-turny take on the original, where Joeboy slips into double-time cadences during the verses, making the beat seem flat-footed in the process.
Joeboy agreed to be a member of emPawa’s inaugural class; now he’s a poster boy for its potential benefits. Earlier this year, the singer put out “Baby,” a ruthlessly graceful love song. “Currently it’s Number One on Apple Music in Nigeria, Number One in Uganda, Top 10 in Zambia, Top 10 in Zimbabwe, and Number Two in Kenya,” Joeboy says gleefully. “Apparently it popped.”from Mr. Eazi’s desire to replicate a key moment in his career.
“When artists start empowering other artists, the message they give out is they’re setting up the next generation,” Basa says. “By doing this, he becomes a leader. He becomes responsible for the motivation of the next generation. And they benefit from his experiences, his wins, his losses.” But it also has to do with the cruel reality of the streaming landscape, which prioritizes the preferences of digitally-connected populations. A small country like Sweden , where nearly everyone uses Spotify, can launch a global hit. But even though Nigeria’s population is roughly 20 times larger, it does not have access to Spotify, so a local smash still faces obstacles reaching a global audience.
In the West I can make gambles and book venues by myself, because I have data [about my listeners],” he says. “I know that in New York, I have about 500,000 listeners a month. So I know I can have 1,000 people at my concert. And I know 30% are from Brooklyn so I can do a show near where they live. I don’t have that data back home. Nigeria has 36 states. I’ve not even toured 10, and that’s partly because my fans are consuming the music in an alternate way that is not track-able.
Vydia can get music onto all the DSPs within 24 hours and provide artists with back-end data about listener habits. But its commitment goes beyond low-friction international distribution — LaManna is also hoping to find creative ways to reduce the bandwidth costs that impede legal streaming. “We will be working with the DSPs and YouTube and Facebook to make sure that the music is accessible and doesn’t have heavy bandwidth charges,” he says.
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