Mr Eazi Launches Africa Music Fund
Nigerian music superstar Mr Eazi has announced the formation of the Africa Music Fund (AMF), a groundbreaking financial vehicle which will invest in African creatives with the goal of helping them establish economic and creative freedom. As reported by CNN, the fund is raising $20 million in its initial investment round; 88mph, a seed fund and accelerator which invests in mobile/web-based startups targeting Africa, has joined as lead investor.
AMF will create a new funding model for the music business on the continent, by providing direct financial support to African artists to expand their catalog. “AMF will give African creatives the ability to create content without worrying about the financial burdens of production,” said Mr Eazi, one of the most successful and influential artists in African music and a key figure in the global rise of afrobeats, as well as the founder of talent incubator and music services provider emPawa Africa.
The formation of AMF comes amidst a Gold Rush on African content, with companies worldwide seeking to tap into the vast well of African talent in music, movies and other artforms. Annual digital revenue for music in Africa is forecasted to reach US$521 million in 2020, and increase by an average of 12.5% year-on-year through 2025, according to Statista. Projected market volume for 2025 is US$942 million.
“The entire world is looking towards Africa for content,” said Eazi, who, with over 5.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, remains a completely independent artist. “For the entertainment industry, Africa is sort of the last frontier to be explored. African creatives should be able to retain economic and creative control of the content and culture that they create. With funding from AMF they can go ahead and create, knowing that there are no strings attached — it’s just an advance on their future earnings.”
Mr Eazi was inspired to create AMF after seeing the financial hardship many artists were experiencing as touring revenues dried up this spring with the spread of COVID-19. “Post-COVID, some independent African artists might be in such a tough spot they end up signing deals they would have normally not have signed,” he said. “But what if artists could get funding without going through a record label? Individual artists can't get funding from a regular bank to create content, because banks aren’t set up to understand what collateral they can secure your loan against. You need an institution really focused on artists and content. That’s where AMF comes in. It’s a financial engine that invests in intellectual property. You come to us, we see how much you make, we give you an advance, and it is secured based on your IP.”
The fund will be open to both new and established creators, who will be awarded funding through AMF based on their demonstrated streaming revenue, and projected incomes on future recordings. The initial advance will be debited in installments as their earnings begin to rise, with all artists enjoying access to information about their earnings in real-time. Nigerian music producer DJ Neptune, whose single “Nobody” featuring Mr Eazi and Joeboy is one of the most streamed afropop releases of 2020, is the first artist to subscribe to AMF.
New and unproven acts applying for funding from the Africa Music Fund will be required to distribute their music through Cinch Distro, a new digital distribution platform created by emPawa Africa in partnership with New Jersey-based music technology company Vydia. Through Cinch Distro, artists can upload individual songs to all major music stores for about $1 per song, or pay about $10 for unlimited song uploads— a favorable rate to those offered by major digital music aggregators DistroKid, Tunecore and CD Baby. “Artists basically use the platform to distribute their music and we monitor their progress,” Mr Eazi said. “That way we can make data-backed decisions about who to invest in.”
emPawa Africa, which was formed by Mr Eazi in 2018 to provide mentorship and resources to the next generation of African artists, will act as operating partner of AMF. emPawa, which has provided non-repayable grants to 130 artists from 12 African countries, launching the careers of music stars such as Joeboy and J.Derobie, will source and provide recommendations on content to be funded by the AMF.
