We’ve been writing about the continued global growth of Afrobeats, Amapiano and other African music genres and scenes regularly. Now London will play host to a conference exploring the African music business in 2023 and beyond.
The African Music Summit (AMS) will take place at PPL’s events space on 24-25 November. It’s not a new conference: it started in 2012, and has been steadily growing since.
“While the artistic aspects of African music have flourished, there’s a critical need to equally nurture the business side of the industry. AMS aims to spotlight this crucial aspect,” said Ikechukwu Onuorah, who has been involved since the start.
(Music Ally readers may also remember his keynote at the NY:LON Connect conference in 2019, when he outlined the scale and potential of Africa’s music and music industries.)
“We are on a mission to create an industry that is not only self-sufficient but also reshapes global music business paradigms,” he added.
This year’s summit is being supported by PPL and the BPI, the Black Music Research Unit at the University of Westminster, and Music Ally (yes, that’s us!).
Speakers confirmed already include Sampra’s Ntsietso Mokitimi-Makhofola; Empire’s Stephanie Adamu; the IFPI’s Jean-Elie Ilunga; Women4Africa’s Tola Onigbanjo; Warner Music South Africa’s Laverne Thomas and Universal Music Group’s Kayode Bola.