Sol Generation, the recording label established by multi-award winning boy band Sauti Sol, has announced plans to equip over 300 upcoming musicians in Eastern Africa with the necessary skills to develop their talent.
The initiative dubbed Press Play is an Artists’ Development Program (ADP) aimed at taking the young artists from aspiring musicians to professionals through developing skills, building brand equity, and granting them access to new physical and digital markets.
According to Sol Generation Chief Executive Officer William Nanjero, despite its vibrant creativity and boom in production, the Eastern African music industry is nowhere near realising its potential.
This amidst a growing middle class that present a great opportunity for artists to develop bigger local audiences and customers for their artistic products.
“The goal is to enhance the technical expertise of the different stakeholders in the creative economy in a bid to intensify the standard and quality of Eastern African music, the creative industry and enable a robust ecosystem,” Nanjero noted.
The artistes who are chosen through the ADP process will be taken through a development programme that will include song writing, brand development, marketing, financial management and proper music distribution methods.
“The six-month program funded by the Ignite Culture Fund, curated by British Council and Heva Fund mainly targets female musicians and will culminate in the production of an EP for the top four musicians,” he explained.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) Global Music Report 2023 named Sub-Saharan Africa the fastest-growing market region in 2022, following a 34.7 percent rise in music sales, largely driven by the booming music market in South Africa, where sales were up by more than 30 percent year-on-year.
Research firm Dataxis projects Africa’s annual music streaming revenues will grow from $92.9 million in 2021 to $314.6 million by 2026, while warning that internet penetration rates will be the main ceiling on this growth.
