The Role Of Royalty Management And Royalty Tracking Platforms In The African Music Industry
As a testament to the talent of African artists and the growing popularity of African music on the global stage, we have witnessed a surge in its worldwide influence. There has been a shift in the dynamics of music consumption in favor of African music. Indeed, it is no longer on the sidelines but has seized the spotlight and is demanding acknowledgment. From viral TikTok trends to Grammy nominations, the achievements of these talented men and women are indisputable.
With the rise of African music in global markets, what role can royalty management and tracking platforms play? How can they mitigate the challenges of royalty management for African artists?
Trends In African Music
From Afrobeats to Igbo pop, Highlife to Amapiano, African music rapidly establishes itself as a global force. Access to diverse genres, fueled by the proliferation of digital streaming platforms, has nurtured a hunger for authentic, culturally rich content. Flavour, Phyno, Tyla, Burna Boy, and Wasiu Ayinde Marshal each represent distinct sounds of African music, and these are just a few of the many promoting African music on the global stage. International collaborations have further propelled this growth, with Beyoncé’s 2019 album The Gift serving as a prime example.
In 2023 alone, Nigerian artists earned a staggering $17 million in royalties from Spotify. Beyond Spotify, the accumulation of global revenues and increased streaming numbers show a growing worldwide appetite for African music. Digital platforms are tweaking their services and payment structures to serve their African audiences better. As more Africans gain access to these platforms, African artists get more support through the increase in local engagement. This growth spans multiple platforms and markets and indicates an increased earning potential for African artists. We see an upward trend that shows no signs of slowing down, a welcomed development in an industry increasingly recognized as a key driver of youth employment and empowerment.
Therefore, emphasis must be placed on the need for royalty management platforms like Royalti.io within the African music scene.
Challenges in Royalty Management
African music is a growing market, and so leveraging this opportunity requires more than just talent and creativity. Music is a business, and for artists to succeed, they must address the ever-present issue of tracking and managing royalties from multiple revenue streams.
Tracking Across Platforms
Tracking a single release across multiple streaming platforms and compiling that data into one comprehensive report can be daunting. When revenue comes from various countries, differences in tax systems, copyright laws, and royalty collection mechanisms can complicate the process of collecting and reconciling payments.
Issues of Transparency
Transparency in royalty management is essential, overtime issues arising from discrepancies between reported streams and actual earnings have become commonplace in the industry. Before the advent of royalty management platforms like Royalti.io, artists needed more means of verifying the accuracy of these reports. This lack of visibility created an environment ripe for misreporting and underpayment.
Undocumented Revenue Streams
Revenue streams could go undocumented for several reasons, either from platforms failing to report streaming earnings or because income from live performances, licensing deals, and merchandising is not properly reconciled. These are a few of the ways artists could lose revenue.
The Role Of Royalty Management And Royalty Tracking Platforms
Ensuring Transparency
Royalty management platforms address one of the most critical challenges faced by African artists: transparency. By centralizing streaming data while providing real-time insights into an artist’s earnings from various sources, these platforms grant artists and their teams access to critical financial data, in stark contrast to previous industry practices.
Simplifying Complex Revenue Streams
From streaming and live performances to sync licensing and merchandise sales, royalty management platforms aggregate revenue streams into a unified system. This simplifies otherwise complex financial data, helping artists and their teams make more informed decisions. This not only saves time but prevents revenue from slipping through the cracks.
Promoting Data-Driven Growth
These platforms don’t just track royalties—they provide valuable insights that can shape an artist’s strategy. By analyzing revenue trends, artists and teams can identify growth opportunities that allow them to tailor their marketing efforts accordingly.
The solution to royalty management challenges faced by African artists lies in systems that centralize royalty tracking across multiple platforms. These systems offer transparency to an otherwise opaque process. The added benefit of simplifying contract management makes platforms like Royalti.io indispensable. By fostering trust and promoting clarity, transparent royalty management strengthens the relationship between artists, labels, and managers, thereby supporting the sustainability of the African music ecosystem.
