Digital music service Spotify has a new website dubbed Afrobeats: ‘Journey of a Billion Streams’, which will track all things related to the genre.
Spotify will track the growth of the genre, which has grown by 550% since 2017, and was streamed more than 13 billion times on the plalast year.
Spotify’s managing director for sub-Saharan Africa, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy believes the genre will continue to evolve and will continue to shatter more ceilings.
“This year alone, the genre has been played for more than 223 million hours with streams exceeding 7.1 billion on Spotify. We created this site for both old and new fans of the genre, who would like to have a better understanding of how and where this explosive sound came to be,” Jocelyne stated.
Spotify’s Afrobeats: Journey of a Billion Streams will focus on five key pillars:
- Origins: Exploring the genres that influenced the development of Afrobeats, including Afrobeat, Highlife, and Juju, among others.
- Evolution: Highlighting the industry players who have contributed to the current Afrobeats sound.
- Fusion: Examining the fusion of Afrobeats with genres such as Reggaeton and Amapiano, and their impact on its success.
- Cultural Exportation: Exploring Afrobeats’ Role in Exporting African Culture through Music, food, language, and Fashion.
- Women of Afrobeats: Shedding light on key female figures who have propelled the genre to its current global sensation status.
According to the platform will be updated on a biweekly basis for the next two months.
The aim is to provide fresh updates on Afrobeats developments and an interactive experience for fans to discover and connect with key stakeholders.
“Streaming services have progressively enhanced and changed the way artists connect with their fans, and this has helped them build their careers and audience reach,’’ says Spotify’s Head of Music, Sub-Saharan Africa, Phiona Okumu.
Despite the latest developments, stakeholders in the music industry believe the endemic problem of piracy remains big and streaming is not an enough solution.
“There are challenges, but these are not insurmountable. Piracy is the most common challenge in the music industry and in markets where accessibility to high-quality audio is a challenge,’’ Okumu says.
