Afrobeats Intelligence, initially a weekly newsletter, has metamophorsed into a podcast on African music. Curated by award winning journalist, Joey Akan, in partnership with Okay Africa, it has featured over 55 artists including Tiwa Savage, Lojay, Bella Shmurda, Gyakie, Timaya, Tems’ Manager Donawon, Joe Boy and others. The fourth season of the show marks a shift, not just in storytelling, but in how it’s told. In this interview with FLORENCE UTOR, Akan speaks on how their work reflects a mission to amplify African voices and provide tailored communications strategies for industry stakeholders.

It started as a newsletter and has always been what I wanted my dreams in this space to be. To find a platform that gives everybody the chance to understand more about the music, and more importantly, the eco system that supports it. So, the newsletter became a big deal, got a grant from Substack and after a while, I saw the listenership preferences began to change in terms of how millions consumed, so, I said how can we capture this in persons, this same process, but now provide it in video and audio forms. I just launched Afrobeat Intelligence, the podcast, I put a few things together and here we are.

Getting on the show is a mix bag anybody applies. When we started, because of my deep network within the space and my years of service to the game, I had to go to people’s houses myself but my focus has always been, let’s tell the most impactful stories in the most intellectual way possible, from the people who have had an impact, stories that you can recognise or learn from, for instance, my episode with Bella Shmurda was on spirituality and other things. Also Tems has done amazing representing us internationally, she smashed awards. An interview with her manager will tell you the entire framework that supports that ascension, so, you see a lot of people that are considered stars, people that have impacted our pop landscape so we find the best talents who have demonstrated insane ability to impact this space and we give them the platform. Like we have had Lona, Mr Tan we have also recorded Winnie who is an amazing singer song writer from Jos, everybody gets in but the focus remains to tell the most impactful stories that can hold the mirror to this industry and by so doing to the world.

When you are on a podcast like this, what happens behind the scene is a lot of conversation, so, when you have a challenge with anyone, you call someone and everything is arranged so all of the deep relationships come to play sometimes there are dire situations that you have to work through to get things done, like Tiwa savage, I spent some time asking her for an interview but she was not ready, when she was ready, she told me, ‘Joey, let’s do the interview’ and now we have done it, same with some other artist, so, I won’t say it’s a problem. For instance, when I called Zlatan, but because he was recording at the time, he couldn’t come ‘when I drop my album I will call you and we will do it’ he told me, and we did when he was ready.

When you look at the Afrobeat score board, you usually see a lot of global success, we have Goya Menor’s You got to bambam, we have a lot and enough to find audience around the world and cross pollinate our culture with distant cultures, that’s why you see all of the major labels here and all of the investors from the international music space coming into our local space and into the lives of our local talents. At the same time, every culture experiences challenges and how you grow pass that is what determines if you will still maintain your hold on the global pop framework.

Afrobeat is having a great moment, though we have challenges at home, we still have a lot in the pipeline. Sustainability issues still exist but globally, we have planted our flag, we are figuring the best way to achieve sustainability.

The music industry is a tough place especially when you are just armed with a dream and all of it is just in the head. Finding people who will believe in them enough to put money behind it is hard, even the economics of talent development is hard, capital and labour intensive.

Timaya came on air recently and said that to promote one song properly cost a hundred dollars and people are screaming, but yea, that is his experience, that is how expensive it is and that is why it is the people with all it takes that have the best chances of success. What I will say is, the game changes, the method of entering into the space also changes the industry will never be easy to get into but as individuals we can try to reduce the odds or make the variables plane for exceptional talents.

One of the reasons why a success is hard generally within the space is that, it is a very subjective space so it is going to be there for a long time. Should the older ones make the path easier? Yes. That is one of the things Bella Shmurda was very vocal about in his episode and so we have seen him sign up a couple of artistes and we have seen Jax that pipeline become a successful artiste, spun a record label and used that to funnel new artistes to the system, so hopefully, I hope that expands and we have a lot more. We will like to see every talent have its day in the sun but the reality is that it’s a tough industry and everyone competes.

With new things come new systems. We adjusted some back-end processes to make sure everything runs smoothly as we build a stronger media home for African music and its people: The artistes, the execs, the fans, the culture drivers. It’s a new chapter, but the mission is the same, to document the movement with truth, with depth, and with love.

We have viewership from everywhere, I think AudioMart is where we have the most numbers for a Nigerian podcast. Boomplay has over 800,000 views on Youtube alone, just like Tiktok numbers are crazy, it is everywhere. The day I woke to ArrayMusic, a platform that supports global music business carrying the podcast, it blew my mind. Locally, I think of it as a resource to teach the industry because I know a lot of people have learnt: artistes, artiste mangers. A lot of people just come up to me these days and say, oh my God, you have just given us the blue print, so that in itself shows value. Internationally, we are having more transparent conversations about the game, our place in the order of things and the reality of chasing global acclaim in that market.

I just want you to know that the three industries that collide with Afrobeat Intelligence is what hasn’t existed in the market, it serves a broad base, it educates and entertain and at the end of the day, it’s also a valuable resource to the market, so seeing something created locally get to this level of partnership, and success is fulfilling.

If you want to hear any artist break down their career, the evolution of their sound, what’s next for their life and music, just go to Okay Africa on all the social media handles.

I am privileged to be in connection with Obi Asika who is the Director for National Arts and Culture Commission, he has a few plans outlined, but yes I agree that the government should step in not just for engaging the youths but for growing what we already have and making sure its sustainable for generations to come at the highest level. I want to see grants, I want to see more institutional support, more governmental responsibility and agency as regards the music industry, more venues being built, community centers where they can learn and have the resources to grow in the creative. Is it happening, I have not seen but I have been assured that a plan will unfold for the music industry soon so I have my fingers crossed.