Challenges faced by independent artists and creators in Ghana | Collaboration and Monetisation of Afrobeats, African Culture and Creators by International Media and Brands(S6 Clips)

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Going back to the youth and maybe artists and creators, we're probably going to go into creators a little bit because I think this is where the conversation is going.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_01]: How do you see artists, creators, let's say in Ghana, maybe those that want to go independent, how do you see them making money from their craft?

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Because maybe it's a bit easier today than it was a few years ago, but how do you see that working and what opportunities do you see in that space?

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Independent artists, creators, utilizing their own platforms, YouTube, uploading their own music to Spotify, Boomplay, etc.

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Trying to do their own tour.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think definitely King Promise is someone who definitely I can see taking over and touring within the African market.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not easy because a lot of key countries within Africa already have their dominant artists.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: That's why I said it's kind of different because if you look at someone like Diamond Platinum's dominating, so it's very hard and this is why collaboration is very important.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's very, very important.

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Is it because the African music industry is smaller than...

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's only now becoming profitable and Afrobeats now is only now being monetized.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The game is so raw now, so fresh that if you know and you apply now, you will be laughing if you know the game.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you've got like Burn a Boy and Apple Music and that's huge.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Because corporate now is ready to pump money in because now they understand the value.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: There's not too much trust.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is why I say shout out to Shopsi.

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Shopsi has been an advocate for Afrobeats from the very beginning where it took convincing about even being African.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: We've gone from a time where growing up in...

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Remember how it was to be African?

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, everyone's kind of shy.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: So everybody used to be like they're West Indian.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was just high.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone wanted to be Jamaican, isn't it?

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Because it's much cooler now.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Now it's like Africa is one of the most monetizable.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: You can structure a whole business around Africa.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's so crazy how far we've come.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think now a lot of companies understand that and they're ready to push.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_01]: It's crazy.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, in South Africa, I think the Garneau must go back for like a thousand pounds and stuff like that.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Which designer was that?

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there was a runway designer with the...

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine?

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and even there's like an American dude now.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01]: He's taken a kente and he's turned into blankets.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: NFL just shot their advert in Mokkala Market.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: We've come a very long way.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you understand that this is just the beginning, then you can see like, okay, if you're able to...

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: That's why I said if you have a strategy from now, you could really set yourself up very well.

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So I think during your time here, you've probably also got a good idea of if someone wants to kind of tap into the culture like an NFL or something like that,

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: like how they would kind of go about it.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: What kind of brands, what kind of collabs could you see maybe happening in the near future in terms of Ghana, Africa, you know, like foreign brands, artists, etc. coming and doing stuff?

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Because it's just getting better.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it last year? Either last year or the year before, Good Morning America did their first episode in Skybar.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh that was at Skybar, was it? It looked familiar.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was at Skybar.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_01]: It's weird because it's daytime. I've never been there.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Right and they moved everything. They did the whole set from the balcony. They moved out all the chairs and everything else.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: They shut it off, shot the whole... And then they took everybody on a tour, how they do the kente. Do you know how big that is?

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think Chef Binta was there. I need to bring her on the show actually.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Massive. So we've had the NFL and Mokkala, we had Apple Now Party, we've had Spotify, we had Empire, which...

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Empire, the label.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Empire, Apple now the label, yeah. So they had an event. It's actually on my Instagram page. I just posted it.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of people were shocked. And I spoke about it on Instagram. That budget was sensational.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: They came ready and prepared and they catered to the people on the ground. They wanted to see what was happening.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Because remember, they've already signed like a Shakir and they're gone. But they wanted to see again what's happening in Ghana, speak to the people on the ground.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Shout out to Tina Davis. So I think a lot is happening.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And Michaela Cole shot her Vogue magazine in Ghana. Her cover in Ghana.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, I can see... And I probably am going to... Remember, I said it here first. I can see Oprah coming here.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: I can see Oprah and Gail shooting up. Gail was already featured in some of the episodes that they did with Good Morning.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And she came in like, I can see Oprah here. I went to the Color Purple premiere. They premiered Color Purple in Silverbirds.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I can see Oprah coming to Ghana.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I can see that too because the people she's affiliated with as well have been coming here.

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I know that there is a young man called Kwame who is in the Bad Boy Camp.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: What? Diddy's camp?

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So there has been conversations I know that have been had with Diddy and his camp about coming to Ghana.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think DJ Khaled and Wada Maya, they kind of bumped into each other.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot. I know that there have been for a while, about two years now, there's been conversations with Drake.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's inevitable. You can kind of see all these people that you expect to see. It's inevitable.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And that whole rumor of Beyonce coming to Ghana, disappearing. Maybe she might come herself.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Talks with her as well actually.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Talks with everybody I'm pretty sure.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So big things are happening and I think we're going to see such a shift because now, especially the American market,

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: are now understanding the beauty, the capitalization, the probability of doing things in Ghana.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is where you're going to see some big things happening.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, in Africa as a whole probably as well.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Because now, yes, good you said that because now look at Rwanda.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, so if you're smart enough to be like a company like Kozo and you understand strategy,

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: then you put yourself ahead of the curve because now that Kozo has gone to open a branch in Rwanda,

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Rwanda's just building out their tourism. They're getting ahead of the game.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Rwanda took another initiative, taking out Ghanaian social media influencers to go and test out different tourism in different parts of Africa.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: So Rwanda took South African. I know Wesley's just gone to South Africa.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Even I find it a bit like Ghana because it's good for Africa as a whole.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: But for me, it's just like, wow, so Ghana is really just letting some of their big boys go like that.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you see what I'm saying?

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_01]: So you feel like Ghana is losing some of their own talent to other countries in a sense.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: You're using some of the biggest promoters in their lane to promote other African countries.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_01]: How do you feel about that?

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what I'm saying. I think as an African initiative, they're smart, head of the game.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: But if I was like the head of tourism or I said this, I'm calling them into the office, hey, how are you doing?

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Glass of champagne on arrival. Do you want Junofo fried rice?

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to sweeten them.

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: They are being used to promote and encourage groups of people to leave and go.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is what Rwanda looks like, guys. Come on, let's go.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: If Joshua South African goes, we're all going.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Do you see what I'm saying?

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: If South African says let's go to the right, we're all going.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And they know this.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's why for me, I'm just like, let's, other African countries are shining their eye.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: We too, let's not drop the ball.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is an amazing place we are in history of the world because now we've got to a stage where creators are now calling the shots over traditional media.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to bring this full circle where I found it interesting where you were going after MTV, Sky rather when you now have YouTubers,

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_01]: people now pushing the content more on YouTube and other independent platforms.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So when it comes to things like tourism, the YouTubers and people that have social media influences, they're running the game.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think, you know, in terms of Ghana, I mean, there are ways that we can push tourism a lot better.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's what I think we're really maximizing on it again.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: The year return always bring that as an example of how, yeah, it did great, but we didn't really maximize it as much as we should that particular year.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: When you hear it during that period.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was hit.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_01]: The traffic was insane though.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01]: But to be honest, I remember DJ copy of the text saying I'm stuck in traffic.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Right. And it was and I do and I will say this, like for me, I will say year of return was a very smart initiative.

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_00]: We have to give it to that we have to it was a smart initiative.

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_00]: If we're going to sit here and say it wasn't, it's again, it goes back to strategy.

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It goes back to you start something, it steps.

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_00]: So you start something and you map it out for five years.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_00]: What does five years look like? Okay, now what does 10 years look like?

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think for Ghana, it was we just focused on the five.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think now we've passed that.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Like so we've done three years now and I think now it's like there was a part of our mentality.

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Really, we don't ever think about the long term.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: We just think about the now.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So now we're seeing the long term effects and some positive, some negative, more negative now than positive.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: But it started off strong.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And so that's where I'm always a bit like we cannot say it wasn't a good.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: We can't say it was a good initiative.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, it was it was a good initiative.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_01]: It could have been better, but it was a good initiative.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, cool. So of course, you're doing some great things.

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Female as well. Fantastic.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: How would you say the industry is dreaming?