Yes, Afrobeats to the world but whom does the ‘Afro’ ‘beat’ for?
by Mitterand Okorie
Three years ago, when Afro-fusion artist and Nigeria’s biggest musical export Burna Boy tweeted that there was no financial benefit in staging a concert in Nigeria, it sparked a widely publicized controversy. The artist particularly mentioned that a concert appearance for him in Nigeria would simply be a work of charity as there was no profit to be made from such undertaking. Local media, music blogs, and social media commentators queried the artist for talking down on Nigerians who’ve supported his craft before his global success. But what does the numbers say? According to Seat Geek, an entertainment platform that sells and aggregates attendance data for live music and sports events, Burna Boy’s ticket prices are between $70 (lowest price) and $250 (average price) for 2023. Ticket prices for other equally big Afrobeats stars like Wizkid and Davido are also within a similar range. However, the minimum wage in Nigeria has remained constant at 30,000 Naira (30 USD) since 2019. Never mind the recurring inflationary shocks and a currency permanently on a tailspin sucking out life from the paltry figure. In effect, for Burna Boy and other chart-topping Afrobeats stars, there is an observable lack of commercial utility in serving the Nigerian market. Framed differently, Afrobeats has gone to the world and won the hearts of a teeming global audience, but back in its place of origin, people can barely afford the experience. This painful irony, which has been mostly ignored, deserves our attention. The point I wish to make in this brief reflection, is to wrestle with the success of Afrobeats on the one hand, as an exemplification of the capacity for creative excellence within Nigeria and on the other hand reflect on the failure of local politics and how it has prevented the success of Afrobeats from trickling down to the people. Importantly, I submit that while success of the Afrobeats speaks to the triumph of meritocracy in the spheres of life outside government control, the failure of politics comes from the stifling of meritocracy in spheres of life within government’s control. Political failure in Nigeria has therefore diminished the benefits which the global success of Afrobeats should have attracted to country.
Afrobeats to the world
Afrobeats (not to be conflated with Afrobeat—the music genre associated with Fela Kuti) needs almost no introduction these days. It announces itself arrogantly wherever one tries to sit for a beer or a meal; at the Sushi bar in North London or at an NBA game in New York. With songs racking up streams in billions, theme songs at the biggest sporting events, background songs at the biggest fashion runways, sold-out tickets at the largest concert grounds around the world, Afrobeats has taken its place as an object of irresistible sonic pleasure. For further illustration, consider that the Nigerian Afrobeats star, Davido performed at the closing ceremony of the World Cup finals in Qatar in 2022, while Rema, an equally popular afro-pop talent has one of the most streamed songs in the history of Spotify. Afrobeats to the world is on a bull run, enthusiastically manifesting in sold-out arenas in America, Europe, and the Caribbean. Having survived a budding and stuttering phase, Afrobeats has without a doubt blossomed to undeniable global success in the last decade.
Afrobeats to the world is the sonic excellence being served by Nigerian music producers, making the world dance. What is more, six Nigerian Afrobeats stars received a total of 10 nominations at the recently announced 66th Grammy Award nominations. A stark testament that Afrobeats not only has everyone’s attention, it has equally won the hearts of the world’s loftiest music jury. That said, while Afrobeats was busy fulfilling its destiny, the place of its provenance was busy betraying hers. Framed differently, while Nigerian artists commanded global attention through the unique Afrobeats sound, Nigeria itself entered a dangerous political phase, in which all indices of human development (human capital, security, economic productivity) did not simply plateau but terribly dipped. Understanding the implications of these oppositional dynamics and outcomes is important for students and experts of the African condition.
When meritocracy succeeds and politics fail
As I’ve hinted in the previous section, the exponentiality of Afrobeats coincided with the deterioration of Nigerian politics. For context, one may take the period between 2014 and 2024 as a point of focus. In 2014, Nigeria was the third fastest growing economy in the world, with rule of law and freedom of speech relatively assured. It was also, despite its challenges one of the most attractive places for foreign direct investment. But between 2015 and 2023, its burgeoning middle class and economy had been eviscerated by two economic recessions, poverty had intensified so terribly that the country overtook India as the world’s poverty capital. Further, Nigeria became one of the most captured states in Africa with state institutions guided by the reflexes and heatmaps of its political elites. When Nigerians visited the polls last year, the conduct of the election was so shambolic, the ECOWAS, European Union and other foreign observers seemed dismayed by the staggering lack of integrity of the entire process. Months after, foreign investors confidence eroded to an all time low, plummeting the value of the Naira, as existing investors such as Proctor & Gamble and GSK packed and left the country. In one of its sobering reports, the Nigerian think-thank group—SBM intelligence reported that Nigerians had become so impoverished, they spent 97% of their earnings on food. Interestingly, a fifth of the respondents in the study mentioned that they were unable to spend on entertainment which they did in the past. In effect, while the global market price for the best concert experience for Nigerian music increased, the discretionary income of Nigerians at home alarmingly plummeted.
What is more, the interoperability of local music labels and US and UK-based companies like Universal Music Group, Def Jam Recording, Island UK, EMI, to mention a few, created an even more outward-facing music industry. To be fair, this relationship guaranteed that Nigerian artistes are adequately marketed to earn huge revenues for their talent. For instance, the combined revenue from the streaming and performing of Afrobeats has surpassed a billion USD, thanks to the marketing genius and deep pockets of foreign music companies. Tellingly, one can observe in this case the triumph of meritocracy in the resounding commercial success of young Nigerian talents, armed with a passion for success and the patience for excellence. On the other hand, this success has equally exposed the fact that the Nigerian (and by extension African) market could rarely be served given the realities of capitalism and profits. So, whom does the Afro beat for? We find here, thus, that while meritocracy has caused Nigerians to lead the world musically, the lack of meritocracy in political leadership has incapacitated Nigeria from reaping the fruits of Afrobeats.
Global sound but where is the local impact?
Should music be able to impact the culture and people where it is inspired and stirred? Indeed, as one should expect every product that is created for export to draw commensurate commercial utility. For illustration, Glastonbury festival, one of the annual highlights of British music and culture brings over £100m into the economy of South West England and has an average ticket price of £335. In 2023 alone, 1.1m overseas music tourist attended the music festival. On the other side of the Atlantic is the Coachella music festival in Los Angels (USA) which attracts twice as many air travellers as other music festivals, and with ticket prices ranging between $429-$1000. The above examples are indicative of the incredible utility of music in attracting revenue for its place of provenance. Afrobeats has the charisma and appeal to send aficionados streaming into Lagos or Abuja to witness Nigerian artists perform in their home country or home crowd; to get in touch with the culture that inspires the sound, to witness the magic of the country’s people and hospitality. And from this opportunity should arrive the expansion of concert facilities and facilitators, the hospitality industry, and even the minting of new stars whom the world could discover in their home country as opposed to when American executives ‘discovers’ them. But Nigeria cannot guarantee security for its citizens, so it automatically cannot guarantee same for music tourist. Nigeria does not have a national carrier, so it cannot earn revenues from transporting music lovers across the world even if Afrobeats was to host is own signature music festival. Moreover, Nigeria has too little kilowatts of power to distribute nationwide. And so, except for guests camping in luxurious hotels, the blaring noise from pulsating diesel generators jerking throughout the night would present sufficient sorrow to accompany the joy of concert goers. And so, none of the conditions to satisfy the hosting of Afrobeats concert are remotely satisfiable at this time. Above all, and rather remarkably, Nigerians themselves (aside diasporans) have become too desperately poor to afford their own stars. It is a sobering paradox but a brutal lesson that should never be underplayed. When the ascent to political leadership is not guided by merit, the result is often corrosive. Such leadership cannot imagine the good life for the majority nor optimize the human capital at its disposal.
Mitterand Okorie is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Philosophy in Africa, Nelson Mandela University.