The corona pandemic in less than 3 months has changed the landscape of most industries across the world, the music industry isn’t left behind and has experienced a setback as well. Live events have been suspended and may remain so till the end of the year.
Globally, Live music has remained the largest single driver of industry revenue generating an estimated $28Bn in 2019 (PWC), but is now followed closely by the recorded music revenue reaching $27Bn in 2019 with Digital music streaming revenue being the largest contributor to growth.
How much of that is generated by the African market? About 0.7%. Infrastructural challenges remain our bane and the digital market largely remains untapped.
While there are no verifiable numbers, most artists allude to the fact that over 80% of their income comes from live performances at concerts, bars, restaurants social events as well as teaching students.
Now that the major source of income for most musicians especially in the West African clime has been eroded, what could happen next? Here are a few things already happening and a few others we can expect;
Monetization — Many musicians would create content and engage users using social media platforms with Instagram likely to be the most utilized. The next critical question that would need answering is monetization. Can I monetize my following? How do I monetize my large following?
Uptick of Cloud-based DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) — DAWs are the tools that allow the production of songs and most of them rely on everyone being in the same physical space. Bandlab which is DAWs that allows this process happen remotely and others that allow music production over the cloud would see an increase in usage.
Innovative Strategies — Corporate brands that prior to now sponsored concerts will have to adapt. We’ve already seen a beverage company sponsor one of Nigeria’s icons to organize a concert. Artists and other creatives can use their live sessions to talk about a new product or brand. If the product is physical, they could interact with it while in the course of their performance.
Skill Diversification — More creatives would begin to pick up skills outside of music to pay their bills. Digital marketing, Social media management, Software development and UI design are some of the fields that can expect to see more entrants.
Intellectual Property — Royalties which have always been relegated would become a burning issue. Creatives will be more intentional about the documents they sign and would eagerly pursue what they are due.
Due to the lack of an enabling infrastructure especially in Nigeria, most creatives have had to forfeit their publishing royalties, but not anymore. We (Covibes) have partnered with Songtrust, the world’s largest music publishing administrator to allow creatives collect their publishing royalties worldwide FOR FREE. It’s one of the ways we believe will bring the Nigerian and by extension the African music industry up to speed with the global music industry.
