Afrobeats generated over $1.3B in streaming revenue in 2023, yet less than 8% of that revenue landed in African-owned distribution or publishing entities. Nigeria's music export value grew 300% in five years -- most of the infrastructure capturing that value is headquartered in LA and London.
African creative industries are producing globally dominant cultural content while operating in a structural dependency on Western distribution, publishing, and IP frameworks. The creators have the talent; the system is designed to extract value upstream.
The creative economy conversation in East Africa must shift from 'how do we make more music' to 'how do we own the rails that move and monetise culture.' Without African-owned streaming platforms, publishing houses, or IP registries, the creative boom is essentially an export economy with no local reinvestment loop.
What would it take for East African governments and private capital to build the infrastructure layer beneath the creative economy -- and who should own it?
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