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SOUND STRATEGIES: The Innovators Going Global With African Music

<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-eswatini-and-south-africa-dj-and-record-producer">eSwatini and South Africa | DJ and record producer</h2>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-spotify-monthly-listeners-1-8-million-youtube-total-average-views-33-million-views">Spotify Monthly Listeners:1.8 Million YouTube Total Average Views: 33 Million views</h3>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center" id="h-social-media-net-worth-instagram-2-million-twitter-390-k-facebook-236k-tiktok-1-7-million">SOCIAL MEDIA NET WORTH Instagram: 2 Million Twitter: 390.K Facebook: 236K TikTok: 1.7 Million</h3>



Words and Curation: Chanel Retief|Art Director: Lucy Nkosi | Photography: Katlego Mokubyane Photography Assistant: Sbusiso Sigidi Studio: NewKatz Studio, Johannesburg| Videographer: @astro.vn | CNBC Africa Videographer: Thabo Mathebula| Video Editor: Chanel Retief| Styling: Bontlefeela Mogoye and Wanda Baloyi | Outfits supplied by: Kworks Design; Imprint South Africa; House of Suitability; LSJ Designs| Hair &amp; Makeup: Makole Made



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center">
“What do I do to make sure I stay relevant? I’ve been granted this beautiful blessing. How do I make it the rest of my life?”
</blockquote>



ZWANE, ALSO known as Uncle Waffles, is a true depiction of Generation Z, the demographic cohort shaped by the digital age and shifting financial landscape. Speaking to FORBES AFRICA about her trending accomplishments, Zwane says becoming an artist was not her initial plan. Destiny ordained it. And how.



“During the Covid-19 lockdown, I was working for a broadcasting company. I was doing small interviews with creatives here and there,” Zwane says. “And then one day I interviewed a DJ.” Zwane asked the DJ if she too could learn the art.



“It went from just a conversation to a couple of sessions, to eight hours a day for nine months, to falling in love with something I didn&#8217;t think I could love. I took a risk; I put out a small post I edited on Picsart, [and here I am].”



Through the star power of social media, the eSwatini- born DJ was able to reach millions of viewers and that kick-started her career. Raised by a single mother who believed she could be whatever she wanted to be, gave her the added confidence.



Indeed, it is risky business becoming an artist.



“She encouraged me to just go for it,” Zwane says. “As much as she was always like ‘do it but have a backup plan’, she always believed that because I am creatively inclined, I should just go for it. So when I was packing my bags and going to find gigs, she always believed in me.&#8221;



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Following the release of her debut single Tanzania, which reportedly took three months to perfect, Zwane’s creation was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as the eighth best Afropop song of 2022, with critics describing her as “a global ambassador for Amapiano”. From across the world, she has received praise from award-winning A-list artists such as Beyoncé, Ciara and Drake, who have described her as a “top DJ [with] top sound”, giving further impetus to her fame.



“There is this really cool DJ out right now, her name is Uncle Waffles,” American singer, actor, and television personality Kelly Rowland reportedly said in May.



. “&#8230;She is so cool. She just played at Coachella, but I have known about this girl for at least about a year now.”



However, as successful as she has been, it has not been without roadblocks.



Still young and entering the industry the way she did, staying relevant is crucial to Zwane.



“Being thrown into the industry, I had to learn while running. Because the typical stories [are] that you blow up, and then it falls away, you kind of disappear into the mix. So for me, I&#8217;ve blown up, [but] what do I do to make sure I stay relevant? I&#8217;ve been granted this beautiful blessing. How do I make it the rest of my life?”



For artists, it is not only about the music anymore. The stance taken by many entering the sector is that it&#8217;s also about positioning yourself as a brand. Beyoncé had athleisure brand Ivy Park, which was in collaboration with Adidas on several collections.



American rapper and singer-songwriter Travis Scott launched not only a burger with McDonald’s but also a sneaker with Nike.



Luckily for Zwane, it’s no different as she has gained several endorsement deals in this short span with some of the biggest brands in the business, including South African multinational mobile telecommunications company MTN, and supplements brand, Slow- Mag. Recently, the talk of the town in South Africa has been her collaboration with one of the world’s most popular fast-food brands, KFC.



In September, Zwane launched a new campaign for the brand featuring a food item in her name, the Uncle Waffles Burger. Despite mixed reviews, the significance of this “one-of-a-kind” burger was highlighted by KFC as showcasing “her journey in music and life at a time when her international success is gaining momentum”.



“This is why we chose to create a campaign that shared real-life locations that have contributed to Uncle Waffle&#8217;s success,” Hloni Mohope, Marketing Director at KFC Africa tells FORBES AFRICA. “Social posts dropped clues daily so fans could physically discover and unlock the beautifully-designed custom QR code artworks at each location. This allowed them to tangibly experience and follow Uncle Waffles&#8217; meteoric rise. This story-telling aspect has really resonated with fans and helped us spread the beauty of Amapiano and celebrate Uncle Waffles. We are so proud to have partnered with such a force. This campaign has seen two giants with great taste create magic and bring it [to] the people!”



&#8220;I want to become a holistic brand who dabbles in everything,” Zwane attests.



Part of this challenge – and something she has enjoyed doing – is the art of storytelling. Although there are those who downplay her DJing, especially as she is dancing, Zwane’s belief has always been to change the narrative.



“What you realize is that internationally, they don&#8217;t understand the music,” says the ‘Princess of Amapiano’ (as dubbed by Billboard). “But they can only understand it through you. You&#8217;re the one that tells the story. So they watch you, they understand that you&#8217;ve told the story, and you&#8217;ve gained a huge audience of people by doing so.”



Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Spotify’s sub-Saharan Africa Managing Director, wrote in August that in her opinion, young African artists are taking over the global stage and contributing to the growth of the African market, which could even rival markets like Korean pop (k-pop) in the international arena.



“This young population continues to grow rapidly while African talent across both spheres of music and sports is booming in abundance. This is demonstrated by the rise in popularity



and proliferation of African genres like Amapiano and Afrobeats internationally,” Muhutu-Remy wrote.



It’s Zwane’s time, from performances at the prestigious Coachella and the Met Gala (“fashion’s biggest night out”) after- party in May, attended by some of the world&#8217;s biggest names in the entertainment and music business, to having a BBC RADIO 1 Residency, Zwane wants to see more young women take center stage but hopes that they don’t feel the imminent pressure to always be viral or trending.



Her advice: “Your success can come at a rate that&#8217;s perfectly fine to you. The idea that you blow up and your life changes tomorrow is not as easy. You can literally be me with just a little more time.



But maybe you could even do better than me because you had more time. You have got to figure out who exactly you want to be.”



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Meet Cover Star: Lungelihle Zwane (Uncle Waffles)-“I WANT TO BECOME A HOLISTIC BRAND”

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Spotify will start using artificial intelligence to translate podcasts into other languages, the company announced Monday as part of a partnership with OpenAI, as Spotify becomes the latest to use generative AI for its products.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Spotify&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-09-25/ai-voice-translation-pilot-lex-fridman-dax-shepard-steven-bartlett/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;Monday that it is releasing a pilot for its “Voice Translation” feature, which will translate podcasts into other languages that will match the original speaker’s voice and style.



The feature was created in partnership with OpenAI, which&nbsp;<a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt-can-now-see-hear-and-speak" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;Monday that it was releasing new “voice and image capabilities” for ChatGPT, allowing users to speak with the AI chatbot with generated “human-like audio from just text and a few seconds of sample speech.”



Spotify’s new feature is based on OpenAI’s voice transcription tool Whisper, which transcribes English speech and translates other languages into English.



The pilot includes three podcast episodes—including the&nbsp;Lex Fridman Podcast,&nbsp;Armchair Expert&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett—available in Spanish to both subscribed and unsubscribed users, with episodes available in French and German “in the coming days and weeks.”



All translated podcasts will be available in Spotify’s “<a href="https://spoti.fi/VoiceTranslation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Voice Translations Hub</a>,” which will be updated with additional episodes and podcasts “over the coming weeks and months.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



100 million. That’s how many users “regularly” listen to podcasts on Spotify, according to the company.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Other companies have started to use generative AI for its products in recent months. Meta&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/irenebenedicto/2023/08/02/meta-launches-tool-to-create-music-using-ai-heres-what-to-know/?sh=4eddc404444d">announced</a>&nbsp;earlier this year that it would release AudioCraft, a tool that allows users to create AI-generated music and sounds. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/6f022306-2f83-4da7-8066-51386e8fe63b?list=intlhomepage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Financial Times</a>&nbsp;reported in August that Google and Universal Music Group were in discussions over whether to license artists’ melodies and vocals for AI-generated music. Google also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/09/19/google-expands-ai-chatbot-bard-to-apps-like-gmail-drive-and-youtube/?sh=3282847f4905">announced</a>&nbsp;earlier this month that it had integrated its AI chatbot Bard into its other applications, including YouTube, Gmail and Drive. Amid concerns over privacy and safety, OpenAI said it was gradually releasing its image and voice capabilities for ChatGPT, after the company warned the new features could present new risks, including “the potential for malicious actors to impersonate public figures or commit fraud.”



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/08/08/google-and-universal-music-group-negotiating-ai-generated-music-tool-report-says/?sh=3d4d29cf22e7">Google And Universal Music Group Negotiating AI-Generated Music Tool, Report Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/irenebenedicto/2023/08/02/meta-launches-tool-to-create-music-using-ai-heres-what-to-know/?sh=4eddc404444d">Meta Launches Tool To Create Music Using AI—Here’s What To Know</a> (Forbes)<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/"></a>

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Spotify Will Translate Podcasts Into Other Languages Using AI

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Spotify said it paid out $7 billion in royalties last year to rights holders, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://loudandclear.byspotify.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">transparency report</a>&nbsp;released Thursday, following critiques from within the music industry that the streaming service pays artists minuscule amounts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Spotify’s royalty payments increased by $2 billion in 2021, up from $5 billion in 2020.



Instead of paying artists directly, Spotify pays rights holders—record labels, distributors or others—who artists allow to put their music on the platform, and who in turn pay the artists with the money earned on the streaming service.



The streaming service said that for the first time, over 1,000 artists made more than $1 million through royalties on its platform.



Spotify said it paid out over $1 billion to publishing rights holders and $4 billion to major record labels.



Spotify said that 28% of the artists who self-distribute on the platform, meaning they are not attached to a record label, generated over $10,000.



As of 2021, Spotify said it had paid $30 billion in royalties to the music industry, and the $7 billion paid out last year was more than double the amount paid out in 2017.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$0.0033 to $0.0054. That’s how much money Spotify paid artists (through their rights holders) per stream in 2021, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-does-spotify-pay-per-stream" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Insider</a>. That means it would take roughly 250 streams for an artist to earn $1. Singer and producer T-Pain shared a chart&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/TPAIN/status/1476032631255060490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1476032631255060490%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmusictech.com%2Fnews%2Findustry%2Ftpain-on-how-much-artists-make-per-stream-songs-spotify-tidal-apple%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on Twitter</a>&nbsp;in December that showed artists need 315 streams on Spotify to make $1, though it’s not clear what the source of this information is. Competitor Apple Music paid an average of one cent per stream in 2021, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-music-reveals-how-much-it-pays-when-you-stream-a-song-11618579800?st=6c732oz0fvn0ssd&amp;reflink=article_copyURL_share" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



Spotify&nbsp;<a href="https://loudandclear.byspotify.com/?question=per-stream-rate" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">noted</a>&nbsp;that it does not pay artists per stream, instead paying them based on share of overall streams on the platform, and doesn’t believe rate per stream is “is a meaningful number to analyze.” The streaming service said there are a number of factors that play into why it’s rate per stream ratio seems low, including a high number of streams per listener and its ad-supported subscription free offering. The company&nbsp;<a href="https://loudandclear.byspotify.com/?question=spotify-pay-per-stream" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">believes</a>&nbsp;“artists care more about a larger paycheck than a higher per-stream rate.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Spotify has 406 million active monthly users and is one of the most popular streaming platforms. Despite its popularity with listeners, Spotify has long been criticized by artists who believe they should earn more from streams on it. Last year, a group of independent artists held a series of protests in front of Spotify artists demanding 1 cent per stream be doled out to rights holders, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-04-19/spotify-artists-royalty-rate-apple-music" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Los Angeles Times</a>. Several mainstream and big-name artists have spoken out against low payments. In 2014, three years after Spotify launched in the U.S.,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/9/15767986/taylor-swift-apple-music-spotify-statements-timeline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Taylor Swift</a>&nbsp;removed her music from the platform because of how it paid artists, though she later returned and still remains on it. Paul McCartney, Kate Bush and Sting were among the musicians who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-mccartney-kate-bush-noel-gallagher-uk-streaming-revenue-reform-1158328/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signed a letter</a>&nbsp;to U.K. Prime Minister Borris Johnson last year urging reforms in the streaming industry, including increased payouts. Last month, Kanye West opted to release his latest album&nbsp;Donda 2&nbsp;on his own device, rather than streaming services, because of how artists have been “hurt” by the platforms, he said. When joining a growing chorus of creators who removed their work from Spotify last month in protest of comments made by Joe Rogan, singer India.Arie called out the streaming service for paying artists “a fraction of a penny” but paying over $100 million to exclusively distribute Rogan’s show.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/02/18/kanye-west-claims-to-sell-6200-of-the-200-music-players-he-says-will-be-only-way-to-get-his-new-album/?sh=3402f5b76fda">Kanye West Claims To Sell 6,200 Of The $200 Music Players He Says Will Be Only Way To Get His New Album</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/02/02/crosby-and-stills-join-nash-and-young-in-spotify-boycott-over-joe-rogan---heres-the-full-list/?sh=3667f84c5049">Crosby And Stills Join Nash And Young In Spotify Boycott Over Joe Rogan — Here&#8217;s The Full List&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/07/arts/music/streaming-music-payments.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Musicians Say Streaming Doesn’t Pay. Can the Industry Change?</a> (New York Times)



By Marisa Dellatto, Forbes Staff

JAPAN-SWEDEN-MUSIC-INTERNET-TECHNOLOGY

Spotify Says It Paid $7 Billion In Royalties In 2021 Amid Claims Of Low Pay From Artists

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Volkswagen, IKEA And Spotify—Here’s The Growing List Of Companies Cutting Ties With Russia Over Invasion

&nbsp;It’s been a big week for high-profile apologies.



Virginia Gov.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/02/07/governor-youngkin-apologizes-for-spat-with-teen-critic/?sh=28a40f6f1fb0">Glenn Youngkin said he regretted</a>&nbsp;what he called an “<a href="https://twitter.com/GlennYoungkin/status/1490698845474496520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1490698845474496520%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fdc-md-va%2F2022%2F02%2F07%2Fyoungkin-apology-teen%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unauthorized” Twitter</a>&nbsp;swipe from his team to a teen. Biden administration science adviser Eric Lander&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/02/07/white-house-science-advisor-accused-of-bullying-staff-despite-bidens-having-a-zero-tolerance-policy/?sh=62ccfd1d4c27">apologized</a>&nbsp;for his treatment of subordinates.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwilson/2022/02/06/joe-rogan-apologizes-for-consistent-and-widespread-use-of-racial-slur/?sh=56dc28e13165">Joe Rogan said he was sorry</a>&nbsp;for his use of the n-word in past podcasts just a week after an earlier apology about conversations on his show with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/01/31/joe-rogan-apologizes-after-spotify-podcast-controversy-says-he-will-try-balance-things-out-in-the-future/?sh=181d30a33d13">vaccine skeptics</a>. And Spotify CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/02/07/spotify-ceo-apologizes-to-staff-over-joe-rogan-racial-slur-controversy-but-says-silencing-him-is-not-the-answer/?sh=60d9442e45a4">Daniel Ek&nbsp;</a><a href="https://twitter.com/pkafka/status/1490511000499544068" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">apologized</a>&nbsp;to staff for the impact on them of the racial slur controversy as the streaming service’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2022/01/30/how-spotify-is-responding-to-their-unfolding-crisis/?sh=334a27125d71">P.R. crisis</a>&nbsp;continues.



But how effective apologies are often depends on how much responsibility the person takes—and increasingly important, who’s doing the listening. Communication pros say that while good apologies take unfettered ownership for what happened, the practicalities of a divided country mean it’s harder than ever to offer an apology that will appease everyone.&nbsp;



“In any discussion today it’s almost impossible to make everyone happy—and apologies are the same,” says Davia Temin, a communications adviser who is also a contributor to&nbsp;Forbes. “If you string a few of the right words together it can sound to people like it was an apology. … The art of the non-apology has been refined tremendously.”&nbsp;



Lander&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/lander-white-house-apologizes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">apologized</a>&nbsp;directly for his conduct amid a White House review that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/07/eric-lander-white-house-investigation-00006077" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports said</a>&nbsp;found evidence he had demeaned his staff&nbsp;at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Monday night, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/lander-white-house-apologizes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tendered his resignation</a>&nbsp;to President Joe Biden, who had made past promises to have no tolerance for disrespectful behavior in the workplace.&nbsp;



In a tweet, the teen to whom&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/02/07/governor-youngkin-apologizes-for-spat-with-teen-critic/?sh=72d2df7f1fb0">Youngkin apologized</a>, Ethan Lynne, said he didn’t think Youngkin’s statement was an apology. (The Youngkin team’s Twitter account&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/BPaves/status/1490325359568449536?s=20&amp;t=LjpwEJp1t13JFyS1GuGz0g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shared a since-removed photo of Lynne</a>, who has volunteered in Democratic politics, with former Va. Gov. Ralph Northam (D), calling out past controversies.) “While he acknowledged the situation, Governor Youngkin did not apologize and did not condemn what happened over the weekend,” Lynne&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ethanclynne/status/1490704931514368008?s=20&amp;t=OEy2Oadr85OlbghZ06okxw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweeted</a>.



Meanwhile, Rogan’s most recent apology prompted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CZlnH8MAb8L/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">applause from many Instagram followers</a>&nbsp;and a rebuke from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/08/trump-joe-rogan-spotify-stop-apologizing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">former President Donald Trump</a>. And Spotify CEO Ek’s apology was&nbsp;<a href="https://qz.com/2123625/what-spotifys-ceo-was-really-saying-in-his-memo-about-joe-rogan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">held up by some observers</a>&nbsp;as a “classic non-apology apology” when the Spotify CEO said he’s “deeply sorry for the way&nbsp;The Joe Rogan Experience&nbsp;controversy continues to impact” his employees, apologizing not for what happened but for how it impacted them.



For an apology to be successful, it needs to admit a mistake and take ownership of it, describe what a leader is going to do to fix it and explain why it won’t happen again, says Paul Argenti, a professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business who studies communications issues. When it doesn’t, he says, “I would argue it does more harm than good. You’re creating another problem. One of the rules of crisis management is to solve the problem once and for all, not put a band-aid on it and then see if we can get through this.”&nbsp;



Argenti says that apologizers who don’t take full responsibility follow a pattern. “When you see people using that strategy, they’re trying to tre­­­­­­­­ad a line,” he says. When leaders do that, they may be “trading off the legal issues and the issues you face in the court of public opinion,” he says. “They want to have their cake and eat it too.”&nbsp;



“One of the rules of crisis management is to solve the problem once and for all, not put a band-aid on it and then see if we can get through this.”&nbsp;—Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business professor Paul Argenti



Temin agrees that ideally, apologies don’t qualify what happened or who was responsible. But even if the definition of what’s seen as a “good apology” hasn’t changed, she says the practicalities of it have.&nbsp;



In a country as divided as ours, some will see a half-apology as the right move, while others will find it lacking. “People are more calculating in who their audiences are—and speaking to their audience—as opposed to just speaking their truth,” says Temin.



She points to Youngkin’s comment about regretting the “unauthorized” tweet as an example. “A lot of people in Virginia will buy that,” she says. In a divided political and cultural landscape, she says, “one person’s apology is another’s non-apology.”



When it comes to apologies, leaders must have courage to speak about things in a way that rings true and doesn’t qualify them, she says, something that’s harder than ever today. “We attack one another so easily,” she says. “There’s a reason why everybody is pulling back on what they say.”



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/"></a>By Jena McGregor, Forbes Staff

What The Spotify, Glenn Youngkin And Eric Lander Statements Tell Us About The Art Of Apologizing Today

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The audio streaming service Spotify has removed content from hundreds of comedians, including Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish and John Mulaney, amid a dispute over royalties and copyright, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-removes-some-comedians-work-from-streaming-service-11638626401?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wall Street Journal</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



The comedians are working with a global rights administration company, Spoken Giants, to negotiate royalty payments for composition copyright of their jokes with streaming services like Spotify, Youtube and Pandora, according to the&nbsp;Journal.



With a deal yet to be reached, Spotify told Spoken Giants that the content would be taken down the day before Thanksgiving.



Comedians get paid performance fees when recordings are played on a streaming service like Spotify, Apple or YouTube, but they don’t receive royalties for having written the jokes like songwriters do for their songs.



Spotify did not immediately respond to&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;request for comment, but told the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, the company has paid “significant amounts of money” for comedy content and wants “to continue” doing so.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Spoken Giants, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelineschneider/2020/10/30/spoken-giant-launches-as-first-royalty-administration-for-podcasters-and-comedians/?sh=2af28be226b4">launched</a>&nbsp;in 2019, claims on its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spokengiants.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>&nbsp;to be the”first global rights administration company” for “spoken word copyrights,” and represents comedians, podcast authors and speech writers. The company’s pilot program collected over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelineschneider/2020/10/30/spoken-giant-launches-as-first-royalty-administration-for-podcasters-and-comedians/?sh=2af28be226b4">$100,000&nbsp;</a>in royalties on behalf of initial members, including comedians Lewis Black, Gerry Dee and Dan Cummins.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h2>



Conflicts over copyright and royalties continue in the music industry. In March, over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/songwriters-the-pact-rights-open-letter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">300 songwriters</a>&nbsp; wrote an open letter demanding that artists stop “using bully tactics and threats” to infringe on a songwriter’s royalties for writing top songs. Artists like Taylor Swift have also been fighting to regain a larger share of the royalties to their music by re-recording and releasing new versions of songs. Private equity firm Shamrock Capitol currently owns the masters of some of Swift’s albums she released under Big Hit Music.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-removes-some-comedians-work-from-streaming-service-11638626401?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spotify Removes Some Comedians’ Work From Streaming Service</a>&nbsp;(Washington Post)



<a href="https://time.com/5949979/why-taylor-swift-is-rerecording-old-albums/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Here’s Why Taylor Swift Is Re-Releasing Her Old Albums</a> (Time)



By Kimberlee Speakman, Forbes Staff

Netflix’s “True Story” New York Screening

Spotify Removes Content From Comedians Including Kevin Hart, John Mulaney Over Royalties Dispute

<p id="h-after-a-six-year-hiatus-singer-adele-released-her-anticipated-new-track-easy-on-me-which-has-topped-the-u-s-itunes-chart-and-attracted-millions-of-views-within-hours-of-being-uploaded-to-youtube-to-become-the-site-s-top-trending-clip-ahead-of-her-upcoming-album-30-released-next-month"><meta charset="utf-8">TOPLINE: After a six-year hiatus, singer Adele released her anticipated new track, ‘Easy On Me,’ which has topped the U.S. iTunes chart and attracted millions of views within hours of being uploaded to YouTube to become the site’s top trending clip ahead of her upcoming album, 30, released next month.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The music&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3ASj1L6_sY&amp;ab_channel=AdeleVEVO" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video</a>&nbsp;for “Easy On Me” attracted nearly 15 million views in the first eight hours of being uploaded, a figure that is growing rapidly as European and U.S. listeners wake up.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Fans of the British singer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/15/lil-nas-x-and-alicia-silverstone-react-to-adeles-new-single-easy-on-me-you-always-make-me-cry" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">praised</a>&nbsp;the new track and lauded the video’s homage to Adele’s earlier hit, “Hello,” both of which were directed by Xavier Dolan.&nbsp;



Within hours of its release, the song had climbed to the top of the U.S. iTunes&nbsp;<a href="https://kworb.net/charts/itunes/us.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">charts</a>&nbsp;and at the time of writing is the fourth-most&nbsp;<a href="https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/top-100-usa/pl.606afcbb70264d2eb2b51d8dbcfa6a12" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">played</a>&nbsp;song on Apple Music in the U.S..&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



Adele said&nbsp;30&nbsp;will address her divorce from Simon Konecki, with whom she has a son, in 2019. Its numeric title, as with the singer’s previous releases, signifies her age at the time it was written and the singer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/adele-british-vogue-interview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;the album is a chance to share “my side” of the separation. “I’ve learned a lot of blistering truths about myself along the way,” Adele said, adding that the writing process was a “maze of absolute mess and inner turmoil” and spanned “the most turbulent period of my life.” Now, Adele said: “I’d go as far as to say I’ve never felt more peaceful in my life. And so, I’m ready to finally put this album out.”&nbsp;https://embedly.forbes.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//twitter.com/adele/status/1448287471649837061&amp;image=https%3A//i.embed.ly/1/image%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fabs.twimg.com%252Ferrors%252Flogo46x38.png%26key%3D3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



30&nbsp;is due to be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/10/13/adele-announces-new-album-30-will-come-out-next-month/?sh=5a4d9d6f6c2d">released</a>&nbsp;November 19.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



‘30,’ which has been teased for weeks, is one of the most anticipated musical releases of the year. The Grammy-award-winning singer’s previous albums—19,&nbsp;21&nbsp;and&nbsp;25—were all runaway successes and her last studio album,&nbsp;25, and its lead single, ‘Hello,’&nbsp;<a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6777905/adele-25-sales-first-week-us#:~:text=It's%20official%3A%20Adele's%2025,sale%20music%20purchases%20in%201991." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">broke</a>&nbsp;U.S. sales&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-music-charts-adele/adeles-hello-breaks-1-million-digital-sales-in-record-idUSKCN0SR2AX20151103" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">records</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



108.2 million. That’s how many YouTube views the platform&#8217;s fastest viral video, the BTS single “Butter,” notched up in 24 hours after release, according to Statista&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/478082/fastest-viral-videos-views-in-24-hours/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a>. BTS dominates YouTube’s top 20 fastest viral videos to date, with Adele’s latest single rapidly approaching these ranks as of early Friday.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/10/13/adele-announces-new-album-30-will-come-out-next-month/?sh=5a4d9d6f6c2d">Adele Announces New Album ‘30’ Will Come Out Next Month</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-viewing">FURTHER VIEWING</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Adele - Easy On Me (Official Video)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U3ASj1L6_sY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

The 59th GRAMMY Awards – Roaming Show

Adele’s ‘Easy On Me’ Tops iTunes Chart, Grabs Millions Of Views Hours After Release

TOPLINE Swedish billionaire and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is launching a bid to take over the English soccer club Arsenal with support from three major former stars of the London-based team, the&nbsp;Telegraph&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/04/26/exclusive-spotify-founder-launch-arsenal-takeover-bid-three/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>, just days after Ek&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/04/23/spotifys-daniel-ek-says-he-would-buy-arsenal-if-billionaire-stan-kroenke-agreed-to-sell/?sh=310146166daf">expressed interes</a>t on Twitter in buying the club from its increasingly unpopular American owners.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<ul><li>According to the&nbsp;Telegraph, Ek is teaming up with Arsenal legends Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira—who were part of the famous ‘Invincible’ team that won the Premier League title in 2004—to make the bid.</li></ul>



<ul><li>If Ek’s bid is successful the three former Arsenal stars could return to the club and be part of a new administrative setup, leveraging their knowledge of the club and its fan base, the report adds.</li></ul>



<ul><li>The reported bid comes at a time when the club’s American owner—billionaire Stanley Kroenke—has faced anger from fans for his apparent involvement in the failed attempt to set up the breakaway European Super League.</li></ul>



<ul><li>While Kroenke’s son Josh insisted last week that the club wasn’t for sale, the report suggests that the involvement of three popular club legends in the bid would put pressure on him to at least listen to Ek’s offer.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Forbes&nbsp;has reached out to Ek and Spotify for a comment.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



“As a kid growing up, I’ve cheered for Arsenal as long as I can remember,” Ek tweeted last week while fans were protesting against Kroenke&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/eldsjal/status/1385667437929062403?s=20+" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">outside</a>&nbsp;the club’s stadium. “If KSE [Kroenke Sports &amp; Entertainment] would like to sell Arsenal I&#8217;d be happy to throw my hat in the ring.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h3>



$2.8 billion. That’s the amount the London-based soccer club was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2021/04/12/the-worlds-most-valuable-soccer-teams-barcelona-on-top-at-48-billion/?sh=434fc0ae16ac">valued</a>&nbsp;at by&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;earlier this month, and it ranked eighth on the list of the world’s most valuable soccer clubs for 2021. Ek, whose fortune comes from his 9% stake in music streaming giant Spotify—which he co-founded in 2006—has a net worth of $4.7 billion,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/daniel-ek/?sh=1a2efab846ab">according to</a>&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;calculations.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h3>



Josh Kroenke, a director at the club, spoke at an Arsenal fans’ forum last week where he apologized to angry supporters for Arsenal’s involvement in the breakaway European Soccer League—which the club has since withdrawn from. But despite demands for them to do so, Kroenke insisted that his family was not looking to sell the club. “When are we going to sell? I am not willing to answer that question because we have no intention of selling,” he said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



Last week, a group of Europe’s twelve biggest soccer clubs announced their plans to start a breakaway European Super League. Soccer fans across Europe—including fans of the clubs involved in the planned competition—<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2021/04/20/billionaire-roman-abramovich-pulls-chelsea-out-of-super-league/?sh=47b5928a1a7a">rose up in revolt</a>&nbsp;against the plan. The most vocal opposition came from fans of the six English clubs who had signed up for the league, including Arsenal. The planned league&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/04/21/shares-tumble-as-europes-soccer-super-league-crumbles-amid-widespread-outrage/?sh=4cf604e13a01">unraveled</a>&nbsp;just 48 hours after it was announced as the six founding English clubs announced their exit following the fan revolt and legislative threats from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Fans have continued to denounce the team owners for their involvement in formulating this competition with most of the wrath being directed at American owners of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool. #KroenkeOut was trending on Twitter last week as fans demanded Kroenke divest his ownership of Arsenal. In an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/04/24/thierry-henry-speaks-arsenal-protests-fans-will-decide-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interview</a>&nbsp;with the&nbsp;Telegraph&nbsp;last week, Theirry Henry—Arsenal’s all-time top goalscorer—criticized Stan Kroenke and the KSE and said he doesn&#8217;t recognize his club anymore after their involvement in the Super League fiasco. Henry, however, made no mention of his involvement in Ek’s bid at the time.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



Arsenal owner Stanley Kroenke built a fortune in real estate—much of it from shopping plazas near Walmart stores—and is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/stanley-kroenke/?sh=48321581742c">worth</a>&nbsp;$8.2 billion, according to&nbsp;Forbes. Kroenke runs a global sports empire that also includes the NFL team Los Angeles Rams and the NBA team Denver Nuggets.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/04/26/exclusive-spotify-founder-launch-arsenal-takeover-bid-three/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spotify founder to launch Arsenal takeover bid with three former &#8216;Invincibles&#8217;</a>&nbsp;(The Telegraph)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2021/04/23/spotifys-daniel-ek-says-he-would-buy-arsenal-if-billionaire-stan-kroenke-agreed-to-sell/?sh=310146166daf">Spotify’s Daniel Ek Says He Would Buy Arsenal If Billionaire Stan Kroenke Agreed To Sell</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Samsung Unveils New Galaxy Note Smart Phone

Spotify’s CEO Is Reportedly Teaming Up With Three Arsenal Legends To Make A Bid For English Soccer Club

With Airbnb filing paperwork for an initial public offering last week, it became the latest of many companies to pursue a confidential IPO, which experts say allows for more flexibility and can be more advantageous than the traditional route of filing an S-1 months ahead of time.



KEY FACTS



The confidential IPO can&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wyattresearch.com/article/confidential-ipos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">trace its origins</a>&nbsp;back to President Barack Obama’s 2012 JOBS Act, which allowed companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to file S-1 IPO paperwork confidentially.



In June 2017, that $1 billion cap was lifted,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/06/30/sec-allow-confidential-ipo-registration-filings/442539001/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">allowing all companies</a>&nbsp;to leverage the confidential IPO when attempting to go public, which proved to be a very popular option in the following years.



Companies like Uber and Lyft are the “two posterchildren for using this strategy,” as well as others like Spotify, Slack and Palantir, says Sandeep Dahiya, associate professor of entrepreneurship at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.



“The biggest advantage of confidential filings is withholding information from competitors for a few months, compared to a traditional filing that everyone could see,” explains Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida who is known as “Mr. IPO” for his work on initial public offerings.



“The flexibility of timing and price range fluidity is a huge part of it—and even more so given the underlying volatility in the stock market today,” says Dayiha.&nbsp;



“Think of it as playing poker with the market: If companies pursue a traditional IPO, the market can deal them a very different hand in the 90 to 120 days leading up to when they’re scheduled to go public,” he adds.



If a company does decide to go ahead with an IPO after a confidential filing, they are required to file a public S-1 form just three weeks beforehand (rather than months ahead), but that still gives investors more than enough time to evaluate financials, says Ritter.



CRUCIAL QUOTE



“With a traditional IPO, once you file paperwork and the train has left the station, it’s hard to stop it,” says Dahiya. “That’s the beauty of a confidential IPO—there’s no set date and more flexibility.”



BIG NUMBER



So far this year, the average first day return for an IPO is 36%—the highest level since 2000, according to Ritter. “We’re on pace for not only the highest average first day return but also more doubling in price of any year since 1999 and 2000,” he adds.



WHAT TO WATCH FOR



Home sharing giant Airbnb is one of the most recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/08/19/airbnb-confidentially-files-ipo-paperwork/">high-profile examples</a>&nbsp;of a company pursuing the confidential filing route. By doing so, the company did not have to disclose any financial information or specify how many shares would be offered in its IPO—giving it far more flexibility than in a traditional S-1 filing. “Covid-19 was just brutal for the hospitality industry, so the fact that Airbnb feels like it can have decent enough performance I think is very encouraging,” says Dahiya. Meanwhile, it has also been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/bill-ackman-and-tontine-holdings-rewrite-the-terms-for-spacs.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">widely reported</a>&nbsp;that Airbnb might be in talks with billionaire investor Bill Ackman’s special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) about a possible reverse merger. “That’s certainly a plausible scenario,” says Ritter, adding, “it makes sense for Airbnb to pursue a dual track strategy to improve their bargaining position both with Ackman and with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (the underwriters for its IPO) to play them off each other.”



KEY BACKGROUND



While IPOs were at a virtual standstill for much of the first half of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, Airbnb is the latest to join a rush of companies going public amid the stock market’s rebound from its coronavirus recession low point in March. Among those who have successfully done so are music label Warner Music Group and insurtech startup Lemonade.



FURTHER READING



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/08/19/airbnb-confidentially-files-ipo-paperwork/">Airbnb Confidentially Files IPO Paperwork</a> (Forbes)



-Sergei Klebnikov,Forbes Staff

D1AETISPVAAA

Here’s Why More Companies Are Filing Confidential IPO Paperwork

Facebook on Friday became the latest major tech company to criticize Apple for taking a 30% cut of app purchases, adding to growing criticism over what companies say are Apple’s unfair and anti-competitive App Store policies that amount to a “shakedown” of competitors.



KEY FACTS



Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/ios/app-store/principles-practices/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">takes</a>&nbsp;a 30% cut of all app purchases and requires developers use Apple’s payments systems so it can also charge a fee for in-app purchases and subscriptions.



Facebook said Friday it asked Apple to reduce the 30% fee for a new feature letting small businesses charge users for online Facebook events, but Apple “dismissed” their requests and as a result small businesses will only be paid 70% from transactions on iPhones, the company said.



Facebook’s rebuke comes a day after Fortnite owner Epic Games sued both Apple and Google over the 30% fee and launched a public relations blitz against the tech giants with the hashtag #FreeFortnite, arguing the “tax” forces companies to increase prices in order to pay for the fee.



Music streaming service Spotifty last year&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-03-13/consumers-and-innovators-win-on-a-level-playing-field/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed</a>&nbsp;a complaint with the European Union’s Antitrust Commission over what it called the “Apple Tax,” arguing that it can’t compete with Apple Music—which isn’t subject to the fee—if it has to raise prices to cover the charge.



Though Airbnb and ClassPass don’t normally have to pay the fee because the fee doesn’t apply to physical services outside their apps, they did have to start paying when they began offering virtual classes and information sessions during the pandemic,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/technology/apple-app-store-airbnb-classpass.html?action=click&amp;module=Top%20Stories&amp;pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the&nbsp;New York Times, drawing complaints from both companies.&nbsp;



In June, Basecamp founder David Heinemeier Hansson called Apple’s fee a “shakedown” and a “ransom” after the company’s email app was rejected from the App Store because it used a different payments system,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1273019513538314245?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adding</a>&nbsp;that “Apple&#8217;s abusive behavior with the App Store has been an open secret in the developer community for years.”



CHIEF CRITIC



Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from&nbsp;Forbes, but CEO Tim Cook defended the company’s App Store practices at a House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing last month. “For the vast majority of the apps on the App Store, developers keep 100% of the money they make,” he said. “&#8230;Commissions are comparable to or lower than commissions charged by the majority of our competitors. And they are vastly lower than the 50-70% that software developers paid to distribute their work before we launched the App Store.”



KEY BACKGROUND



Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked Cook during the hearing if continuing to charge companies a 30% fee as they move their services online during the pandemic amounts to “pandemic profiteering.” Cook responded by saying Apple “would never do that,” and acknowledged he was working with companies to find a solution. But even as Cook said the fee applies to all developers and apps equally, emails released during the hearing show that Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/07/29/apple-offered-to-reduce-its-fee-to-get-amazon-prime-video-on-devices-emails-show/#58889c313eae">offered</a>&nbsp;to lower its fee in order to get Amazon Prime Video on devices in 2017.



TANGENT



Google also charges a 30% fee for apps on the Google Play Store, but much of the focus has been on Apple, which is usually more lucrative for developers than Google.



-Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff

Allen & Co. Holds Its Annual Sun Valley Conference In Idaho

Spotify, Epic Games, Facebook: Major Companies Take Aim At Apple’s App Store Fee

Creators and consumers of music seek African online music
platforms even as global entities and record labels hesitate to fully commit on
the continent.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Africa is a continent of over a billion people, with a
young, increasingly tech-savvy population that has growing spending power and a
desire to find new ways of accessing a wider range of content. And, at a
sociocultural level, music plays a huge role in Africa.



A ripe environment for major global players in the music
industry, you would think, but things have been rather quiet around digital
music on the continent. 



Spotify only launched in South Africa last year, and its
only other African markets are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Apple Music
is still only available in the same handful of African countries as at the time
of its launch. 



Where these companies have, so far, looked on, others have
filled the gap. Chinese company Boomplay, founded in 2015, through a joint
venture between phone manufacturer Transsion and consumer apps firm NetEase,
now has 42 million users across multiple markets on the continent, and recently
secured $20 million in funding to break into more countries.



Locally and regionally focused platforms are also seeing
traction. Key among them is the Nairobi-based Mdundo, which has more than 3.5
million monthly active users in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria. 



The company works with 50,000 musicians across Africa and
has signed a licensing deal with Warner Music Group.



The company’s CEO Martin Nielsen says the sector is seeing
strong progress, with artists flooding to online platforms to distribute their
music and labels paying more attention to the continent.



“We’re experiencing an increasing interest in Africa and the
music industry, both from commercial partners, record labels, music
distributors and global music services. This is a very positive development,
Africa is next in line,” he says.



The growth of platforms like Mdundo, and the launch of new
ones, has benefits for both creators and consumers of music on the continent.
For artists, they provide new ways of getting their music out there. 



Dumisani Kapanga is founder of the Malawi-based streaming
platform Mvelani, which has almost 100,000 songs in its catalogue and claims to
have at least 40,000 users each day. He says services like his have broken down
barriers to entry for artists.



“It’s now easier than ever for musicians to put out music to
their fans without relying on record labels to do so. Within minutes an artist
can have their music on some of the biggest platforms out there. We are
providing the means for artists to be heard easily, without the need for
expensive middle men,” Kapanga says. 



For consumers, it is ever easier to access music new and
old, in a variety of different ways. Damola Taiwo, co-founder of Nigeria-based
music downloads platform MyMusic.com.ng, says download platforms such as his
own remain the most popular due to factors such as accessibility and
affordability, but sees a future in Spotify-style streaming services in Africa.



“The download services seem to still be the preferred
method, where individual tracks are downloaded on devices and permanently
owned. This is probably due to the cost and quality of internet access on the
continent,” he says.



“However, there are other more structured platforms that
also exist where listeners consume music. Some of them are streaming services
similar to Spotify and Apple Music while others are download services, or a
mixture of both.”



What business model to pursue, and how to monetize, are key
challenges faced by local music platforms, and the fact that there are, as yet,
no clear answers might account for the wariness of the likes of Spotify and
Apple Music to bet big on Africa. Taiwo says another key issue is the lack of
major record labels on the continent. 



“Most artists will fall under the ‘indie’ bracket, and even
the ones that have record labels are more like a one-man business with a
maximum of three artists. This makes licencing difficult as there are too many
entities to talk to,” he says.



The diversity of what is loosely referred to as the “African
consumer”, but is, in fact, a huge mass of people with differing tastes and
preferences, also poses a problem for music platforms. Nielsen says there is a
rapidly growing middle class that demands the same service that global music
services offer, yet they are still very data-cost conscious. 



“Plus many of the smart devices have limited storage, so we
tailor-make our solution to their needs. In addition to that, we have a
mass-market segment on our service with low-end smartphone devices that we see
a huge potential in with simpler music offerings,” he says.

Tag: spotify

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA