Africa Music is not Growing?

Let us dig in!

African Music isn’t growing at the rate it is projected to. Could this be the confirmation of the plateau? Let’s unpack 3 key learnings from the 2025 IFPI Report 2025, the world’s most comprehensive annual report on the state of music

1. WHERE IS THE REAL MONEY IN AFRICAN MUSIC?

Sub-Saharan Africa made $110 million for the first time ever. South Africa accounted for 75% of that revenue, and has consistently been the country which generates the most money across all 49 in the region

Shocking, right?

I believe the contributing factors are:

• Music eco-system maturity: Efficiency, Efficacy, Effectiveness, Repeatability, Scalability
• Revenue retention: How many times money circulate within the sector before leaving
• Internet penetration: 45% of Nigeria, 70% of Ghana, whilst 79% of South Africa has data

2. HOW MUCH IS AFRICAN MUSIC GROWING?

In 2022, Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 35%

In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 25%

In 2024, Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 23%

My personal thoughts are that the timelines of the digital streaming platforms entering the market skewed the growth numbers in the first few years post-launch. Don’t forget Spotify only launched in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in March 2021, whilst South Africa was in March 2018. Apple Music launched continent-wide 10 years ago.

I’m also not sure that institutions like IFPI can track sales from hawkers or any non-digitised platform. So does this count if the artists don’t get their share anyway?

3. HOW DOES AFRICAN MUSIC CONTRIBUTE TO THE GLOBAL MUSIC ECONOMY?

1. Australia and New Zealand generated $629 million, which is 5 times more than all 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

2. America and Canada are still responsible for 40% of all music revenue worldwide

3. Latin America has grown in revenue every year for the last 15 years

4. The Middle East and North Africa had the most growth in the last year.

Bonus

A. WHO IS THE IFPI?

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide which was founded in Italy in 1933

B. WHY SHOULD WE TRUST THE ANNUAL REPORT?

Based in Switzerland, the non-profit collects and analyses global music industry data, including sales, streaming, and consumption patterns. IFPI promotes the development and adoption of industry-standard technologies to identify and track music recordings. They also work with technology companies to develop new ways to measure and monetise music consumption

C. WHAT ELSE IS IN THE REPORT?

There’s a lot on AI, Music in Gaming (and Synch), Concerts and Touring, Piracy, Chart Data, Case Studies, and so much more.

My conclusion is that the increased interest outside the continent has clouded how profitable music actually is on the continent. We’ve definitely made more money than ever before, but it’s localised to one country that consistently displays a thriving ecosystem and functional structures.

Some of this is socio-economic factors, e.g streams value being dictated to local income. Some is on reliance on foreign structures/investment with local leads but foreign ways of working. Most of it is a lack of legislative/institutional support for a thriving creative economy. Here’s hoping we’ve done enough to be independently sustainable, if and when the world finds a new shiny trend from the Global South.

Here’s a link to the full report: https://ifpi-website-cms.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/GMR_2025_State_of_the_Industry_Final_83665b84be.pdf