How Global Community Drives African Music's Momentum

Two weeks ago at Shoobs we went live with tickets for Congolese artist, Fally Ipupa's first concert in London. Obviously, doing your first concert in London at 12,000+ cap venue is such a flex but what gets me most excited is not just the fervent response to the concert announcement but also what this says about music from the continent of Africa as whole.

Thanks to Official Charts ' creation of the Afrobeats Chart, The Recording Academy 's new Afrobeats Grammy category, Burna Boy being the first African artist to sell out Madison Square Garden and a London stadium and Ckay's "Love Nwantiti" becoming the first-ever African song to surpass one billion streams on Spotify it's clear that afrobeats is very much deserving a place in the the discussions of the rise of non-Anglo music.

The past few years have been a clear testament to the cultural impact of African music--from the above examples to Master KG's "Jeruselema" and Uncle Waffles' appearance on the Coachella stage it's quite evident that a rising tide lifts all ships and the success of now superstars have paved the way for what's next.

These breakthroughs serve as a gateway to open up the continent for more recognition and growth. The value of music and subsequently fans from Africa was often dismissed due to the low streaming rates & market penetration in comparison to the West while failing to consider a young & large population within the continent hungry for music (and bursting with musical talent!). People also overlook the immense influence the continent has always had on the rest of the world. (And not a topic we need to unpack here but for obvious reasons, a population that is fluent in Western languages--primarily French & English). Obviously, the importance of the African diaspora should not to be overlooked. Before Burna Boy was selling out stadiums he was played on the dance floors at Nigerian weddings in DC and Atlanta, his videos were forwarded through WhatsApp messages, he was heralded as the G.O.A.T. long before he stepped foot on the Madison Square Garden stage.

So, as the conversations about Spanish speaking artists and the dominance of K-Pop continue to emerge (and rightfully so!), don't forget to keep an eye on Africa. With 1.2 billion people on the continent and another 170 million as part of the global diaspora (the majority of those being Afro-Latinx in addition to large populations in the Middle East), having an African hit in five continents is not only feasible but likely to become the norm over the next few years.

As Shoobs coverage with Chartmetric and Musiio by SoundCloud about amapiano showed -- the South African house genre is thriving though comprised almost entirely of independent artists with concerts & festivals showcasing the music consisting almost entirely of independent promoters. This entire ecosystem has been able to grow despite lower budgets, less press, smaller DSPs and often immense adversity because the lifeblood is community. What gets passed around in group chats and gets played at day parties and brunches have always been more important than what happens in the charts.

This is an audience that continues to have an incredible ability to see what's next (our first Wizkid show on Shoobs was 2014!), disposable income to spend on international experiences (as events like DLTBrunch 's DLT Malta and Afro Nation Festival show) and are more than happy to rep their countries' flags (and artists) as they grow.

This is an audience that incorporates music into not just their commute to work but their entire identity. Shifting the perception of music fans from those that stream to those that fervently consume music in all it's forms is what it takes to truly understand and reach this audience. It's how an artist from a country that didn't even have Spotify 3 years ago have a track hit a billion streams on the platform. It's how a song in Zulu became a global sensation and then an even bigger hit when a Yoruba language feature was added. But to do this, it takes reaching them where they are. If you fail to see there's as much value for a fan hearing the track when they're hitting the dancefloor as there is for one hitting play on a playlist, you'll fail to capture this audience because it's never been only about streaming. In fact, up until recently it literally couldn't be. While you can gatekeep a large part of the music industry... thankfully, you can't gatekeep brunch & WhatsApp 😉.)

So, as it becomes completely common to bounce from Blackpink to Bad Bunny to Burna Boy on the biggest playlists (digital & terrestrial) in the world, it's evident that Nigeria & Ghana laid the foundation to facilitate the growth we're seeing now in South Africa. Seeing this Congolese star make waves in the West is just another indication of what's to come in the inevitable shift of what a global superstar looks and sounds like.