NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 6 – Sol Generation has announced plans to equip over 300 Eastern Africa musicians with the necessary skill to develop their talent amidst the popularity of African music globally.
The initiative dubbed Press Play is an Artists’ Development Program(ADP) aimed at taking young Eastern Africa artists from aspiring musicians to professionalisation through developing skills, building brand equity, and access to new physical and digital markets.
Sol Generation Chief Executive Officer Nanjero says despite its vibrant creativity and boom in production, the Eastern African music industry is nowhere near realising its potential amidst a growing middle class that present a great opportunity for artists to develop bigger local audiences and customers for their artistic products.
“The goal is to enhance the technical expertise of the different stakeholders in the creative economy in a bid to Intensify the standard and quality of Eastern African music, the creative industry and enable a robust ecosystem,” Nanjero noted.
The artistes who were chosen through an ADP based process, will be taken through a development programme, that will include songwriting, brand development, marketing, financial management and proper music distribution methods.
“The six month program funded by the Ignite Culture Fund, curated by British Council and Heva Fund mainly targets female musicians and will culminate in the production of an EP for the top four musicians,” he explained.
The project is expected to impact the whole creative industry ecosystem with hundreds of jobs opportunities directly and indirectly that include engineers, coaches, stylists, PR practitioners, content creators, dancers, beat makers and set designers among others.
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) Global Music Report 2023, named Sub – Saharan Africa the fastest-growing market region in 2022, following a 34.7 percent rise in music sales, largely driven by the booming music market in South Africa, where sales were up by more than 30 percent year-on-year.
Sol Generation Directors and Sauti Sol Members say Press Play is curated to increase Eastern Africa Musicians dominance in key African and global music markets.
“The dominance of the American sound globally has waned in favour of a stronger African influence and lately it has been Nigerian music that has dominated youth markets, alongside music from South Africa and Ghana. This African ascendancy offers inspiration for many musicians and Kenya has begun to export its music to neighbouring countries,” the directors said.
Research firm Dataxis projects Africa’s annual music streaming revenues will grow from $92.9m in 2021 to $314.6m by 2026, while warning that internet penetration rates will be the main ceiling on this growth. “Streaming cannot go faster than infrastructure,” the company says.
