2022 was poised to become probably the biggest year for the African music industry by numbers. With the growth in streams and the number of emerging artists who became stars with streaming music in Africa alone set to generate close to US$500M by 2025, thats how serious the industry has become, but well, forget about digital numbers, lets talk about the people who have played another groundbreaking role as promoters.
A music promoter is someone who publicizes and promotes performances, organize gigs, book bands or artists and advertise the shows. There are many promoters but today we are having a look at some of the promoters who have contributed in recent years to the growth of music industry in their countries and Africa.
Oko Drammeh – African Music FestivalGambia
Oko Drammeh established African Music Festival in 1983 and has organised more musical concerts and festivals of African musicians than anyone else on any continent. He has been an outstanding contributor to the expansion and elevation of African music. His events in Europe now attract more than 10,000 people annually thus becoming one of the world’s biggest African music events, showcasing musical artists, dancers and drummers from throughout Africa.
Femi Akande – CEO Kilimanjaro EventsNigeria
Mr Femi Akande is one notable figure in the Nigerian music industry. And he has succeeded in bringing so many international arts to perform in Nigeria including the likes of Mary J. Blige, Sean Paul, Chris Brown, Joe etc.
Mr Styllz – CEO Styllz EntertainmentZimbabwe
Our very own Turkey based entertainment business mogul has been the leading international promoter from Zimbabwe over the past years having successfully organised concerts that featured the biggest names in African music accross Europe including Davido, Patoranking, Mr Eazi, Nasty C, Phyno, Ruger, Tiwa Savage to mention but a few, becoming the first Zimbabwe to organise music tours at that level.
Bright DwomohGhana
Award winning music promoter and blogger, he is the founder of of the biggest Ghana music downloads platform, Ghana Songs. He recently won Promoter of the year award in Ghana.
Justin van Wyk – CEO Big ConcertsSouth Africa
Justin heads South African live entertainment industry biggest player, Big Concerts which organised the 2010 FIFA World Cup music concert and has produced more than 2,000 shows with over 300 international artists, organised tours for international artists like Roxette, Rodriguez, Lionel Richie, Chris de Burgh, Josh Groban, Mariah Carey to mention a few. He is also Managing Director of Ticketmaster South Africa which is the world’s leading provider of ticket solutions.
Africa has hundreds of promoters and we can never mention all of them. In Zimbabwe we have a significant number of promoters who do promote in various ways.
