By Charles Mgbolu
The hit single ‘Calm Down’ from Nigerian entertainer Rema still rings loud and strong after it hit number one on the first-ever official music chart in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.
The original song had more than 380 million streams on Spotify while the remix version featuring American singer Selena Gomez gaining over 700 million streams.
Last week Selena was immensely stunned by the numbers. ‘’This man has changed my life forever. Rema, thank you for choosing me to be a part of one of the biggest songs in the world. Love you forever,’’ she said on her Instagram account.
‘’To cause a big ripple in today’s music world means hitting the big numbers on streaming platforms, and this is non-negotiable,'' says Ade Adetunji, Head of Advertising Operations at Audiomack Africa.
‘’It’s a powerful positioning for the artists because with the new age way of consuming music online, there is absolutely no other way to break international and cultural barriers as a music creative,’’ he adds.
Popular culture
African artists are beginning to see the power of this tool and jumping on it hard and fast. Burna Boy, Wizkid, Tems, Wally Seck (Senegal), Sidiki Diabate (Mali), and Diamond Platnum, to mention a few, are all striking big numbers on streaming platforms.
‘’Once you take your music beyond your shores, you are now an influence on popular culture, you’ve become borderless,’’ says Anthony Abrahams, Head of Entertainment at Nigeria's Silverbird Television.
‘’This is what Western entertainers have long discovered, and it’s so exciting to know that African acts are recouping big by projecting from these music platforms,’’ he adds.
But the business of utilizing streaming platforms is a balancing act that constantly needs to be updated and mastered.
Platform push
Experts say artists must be intentional in their creativity if they wish to project strongly on streaming platforms.
''They must know how their songs are performing in different regions of the globe and be able to translate this into the kind of music they push on those platforms,’’ Adetunji says.
‘’It means they must understand or have teams that understand and are able to read metadata and backend data,'' he stressed.
Award-winning Tanzanian artist Zuchu also recently set a record when her hit song ‘Sukari’ exceeded 500 million views on YouTube, making her the female artist with the most-watched songs in the East African contemporary music scene.
For Nigerian singer Davido, his ‘Timeless’ album broke several records, including the biggest African album in Apple Music history by first-day streams worldwide with 7.25 million on the first day of streaming.
Influence
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) 2023 Global Music Report, the Sub-Saharan African region saw the fastest growth in 2022’s recorded music market.
With an increase of 34.7% and named by the IFPI as the only region with more than 30% growth, making it the fastest-growing region for recorded music revenues in 2022.
Statista also recorded a projected revenue in Africa’s music streaming market of US$372.80 million in 2023, with an annual growth rate of 8.89%.
Nigerian entertainer Wizkid has an earth-thumping 4.6 billion listens on Spotify alone. He is undoubtedly one of the top-selling artists in Nigeria.
He made smart choices with his collaborations after working with American performer Drake.
After the song was streamed, it got platinum certification in the US with 9.1 million monthly listens.
''It is these numbers that should influence their sound, tone, and even collaborations,'' Adetunji says.
