Part One: Ghana and Nigeria's Overlooked Fan Frontier
Why artists, streaming services, and festival producers should prioritize investing in the globally distributed fanbase influencing culture around the world.
Happy Monday! Thanks for opening the fourth edition of the Stan newsletter. A weekly newsletter exploring fans and their bidirectional relationships with the artists that they love. As always suggestions and feedback are always appreciated. You can shoot me an email at dkuhlor@gmail.com or respond directly to this newsletter.
With the rate of streaming growth decreasing in the U.S and U.K streaming services new and old have set their sights on tapping into new markets. Although entrance into new markets have been met with lawsuits and lower subscription prices the opportunity is way larger than it may appear, as the majority of the upside has yet to be captured.While the reach of distribution continues to grow, the music industry has prioritized expanding the amount of total listeners without fully tapping into the fandom opportunities that exist in markets that traditionally have not been very accessible. By exploring the opportunity in West Africa, specifically Ghana and Nigeria, I seek to explain why emerging markets all over the world present a unique opportunity for artists to benefit from increased fan engagement as these listeners typically have less opportunities to exercise their fandom.
The Rise of Afrobeats
The democratization of music creation has contributed to the rapid ascent of Afrobeats. In 2019 we saw multiple Afrobeats artists on the Coachella stage, Universal’s signing of Tiwa Savage, and Davido selling out the O2. Not surprisingly, record labels have been the quickest to acknowledge this shift (i.e Sony opening an office in Nigeria in 2018) in an effort to stay competitive. Major labels are evolving to serve the needs of Afrobeats artists however, there has been little evolution from artists and their teams to meet the complex needs of West African fans, which can easily be hailed as one of the most influential fanbases in the world. A Quartz article highlighted the nuance and opportunity of the West African fanbase by stating:
“This built an audience not just at home but with a growing diaspora market of first- and second-generation young Africans in the suburbs of cities like London and Atlanta earlier this decade.
Early on, it meant Nigerian and Ghanaian artists, with next to no promotion or marketing, could build international audiences made up of those suburban diaspora kids who watched their music videos endlessly on Vevo.”
Tour Stops in West Africa are Few and Far Between
Thanks to the global-ness of the African diaspora, artists embraced by this fandom become international acts from day one thanks to a dense fanbase that resides all over the world. Knowing this, why haven’t bigger artists (yes, I am looking at Beyonce and Jay-Z) capitalized on this by touring in West Africa?
J.Cole shut Lagos down when he performed in Nigeria (in videos of the performance the crowd starts chanting before he even appears on stage). While Cole puts on a great show the ultimate significance of his performance to his West African fans was simply his presence. Everytime I see a major international tour announced West Africa seems to be conveniently left off the lineup. Infrastructure issues aside artists should look at performing in these markets as an investment that grows their defensibility and improves their chances at longevity. Since fans in Ghana and Nigeria have less of an ability to interact and express their fandom physically (i.e concerts, clubs, meet and greets) an artist needs to engage in a lot less physical fan touchpoints to benefit from increased fan loyalty and engagement compared to more established music markets like the U.S and the U.K.
It is imperative that artists entering these markets do their research and prepare for the nuances that each market presents. This may include tailoring their show, fan offerings, and maybe even their merch. Part two of this series will explore the rise of tourism in West Africa as well as the characteristics of Ghana and Nigeria’s millennial population and why they are poised to maintain a large global cultural influence. Part three will conclude the series by exploring how artists, streaming services, and festival producers can position themselves to benefit from this dynamic (and might include my take on why Tidal should buy Afrochella).
My Favorite Stan Moments (There were so many this week!) :
[VIDEO] Cardi B running from her security to greet her fans in Ireland.
[TWEET] Nicki Minaj explaining to her fans why she is cancelling her show in Saudi Arabia.
[TWEET] Meek Mill Says Tierra Whack is the best female rapper in the world.
[TWEET] Noname polling her fans and starting a book club in 24 hours.
My headphones:
Happy Monday!
D