Category: Music Industry Insights
Analyses on the current trends, challenges, and opportunities within the music industry.
Nairobi ’s R&B Scene Is Building Its Own Path to the Global Market
Nairobi’s R&B scene for years has had the talent but lacked the structures needed to move artists from local discovery to sustainable international careers. That gap pushed people such as Faiza Hersi to build those structures from the ground up. Her work began with Nairobi R&B, an event platform that emerged in 2019 when R&B…
Beyond the Anglophone Lens: MAMA AFRICA 26 Builds a Meeting Point for Lusophone African Culture in Lisbon
Across cinema, music, literature, fashion, food and art, the second edition of MAMA AFRICA offered something more consequential than another European celebration of “African culture”: a meeting point shaped around Africa’s Portuguese-speaking cultural worlds and the diasporic city they have helped build. African culture has never spoken in one language. Yet as African music and…
When Ayra Starr Met Zohran Mamdani, Two African Journeys Converged in New York
Nigerian pop star Ayra Starr linked up with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, bringing together two young public figures whose careers occupy entirely different worlds but whose trajectories contain an intriguing point of convergence. One became a global Nigerian pop star. The other became New York City’s first African-born, Muslim and South Asian mayor….
From the Townships to FNB Stadium: Amapiano Builds Its Own Stadium Economy
It would be easy to describe the moment simply as another milestone in Amapiano’s extraordinary rise, but filling FNB Stadium tells us that Amapiano is popular. As Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa prepare to bring Scorpion Kings Live to more than 70,000 people at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium, Amapiano’s journey is becoming about more than…
Xenia Manasseh, Ukweli and Ywaya Tajiri Ask “AJE?” as Nairobi’s R&B Ecosystem Keeps Building Outward
The new collaboration AJE? arrives as one of the early releases emerging from Cinq Music and Nairobi-based Soul HQ’s developing relationship – bringing three distinct creative voices into a record whose significance extends beyond the song itself. There is something increasingly interesting happening around Nairobi’s contemporary music ecosystem. Not simply more releases. Not simply more…
Dolly Parton Knew a Song Could Travel Further Than Its Owner
From Whitney Houston’s transformation of “I Will Always Love You” to Beyoncé’s reimagining of “Jolene,” Dolly Parton ’s relationship with Black artistry offers another way to remember a songwriter who understood ownership without confusing it with possession. Dolly Parton belonged unmistakably to country music. Born in rural East Tennessee, raised in Appalachia and eventually transformed…
From Lagos to Nairobi: Cinq Music’s Soul HQ Partnership Signals a Deeper Bet on African Music Infrastructure
Cinq Music Group is expanding its footprint in African music through a new distribution and artist-services partnership with Nairobi-based Soul HQ, bringing Xenia Manasseh, AYLØ and Altair Saïd into a global infrastructure designed to connect locally developed African talent with international audiences. Barely a month after announcing a partnership with D’Banj’s C.R.E.A.M platform in Nigeria,…
Angélique Kidjo ’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Marks A New Milestone for African Music
Beninese music icon Angélique Kidjo has become the first Black African artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, adding one of the entertainment industry’s most recognisable honours to a career spanning more than four decades.The five-time Grammy winner’s Hollywood recognition marks a landmark moment for African music while reflecting more than…
What Livespot360 Reveals About Africa’s Creative Economy
Over the past few years, Nigeria’s creative economy has entered a new phase of maturity. Large-scale festivals, international partnerships, creative technology initiatives, and cross-sector collaborations have become increasingly visible, suggesting that the conversation is gradually shifting beyond cultural output towards the infrastructure that supports it. Yet visibility alone does not equal institutional progress. As the…
Finale: Inside East Africa’s Most-Viewed Song of 2026
Few songs have united East African audiences in 2026 quite like Finale. The collaboration between Kenya’s Bien and Tanzania’s Alikiba has become more than a commercial success – it has emerged as the region’s most-watched music video released this year, underlining the growing appeal of cross-border collaborations within East Africa’s music industry. Bien and Alikiba…