Sauti Sol: From band to group of businesses

Sauti Sol members take a selfie during the unveiling of the band as the official brand ambassadors for Infinix Kenya on June 2, 2021, at Social House. PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NMG

Football strikers are more often than not the stars of the show for a good reason. They get a lot of attention for their exceptional skills, performance and game-changing moments. And they should.

But who would they be without the goalkeepers?

A hardly ever glorified position, their consistent performance in support of the team makes the difference between a good season and a mediocre one.

Soft-spoken Moriasi Omambia, a lover of basketball, would pass for a good goalkeeper if he were to be on a football pitch.

But in his early years, he preferred basketball. In 2000, with his family having relocated back home from Windhoek, Namibia settling in Rongai, Mr Omambia was on a basketball court.

“On this court, there was always this tall skinny talkative boy. I came to know him as Bien (Aime Baraza). We became friends because of the game. In his free time at the court, he and Chiwawa (legendary rapper) used to write music. We started having these conversations and Bien told me he wanted to be a professional musician and I told him I wanted to go into entertainment law and that’s how we connected,” Moriasi says.

Bien Aime-Baraza of Sauti Sol band performs during Sol Fest concert at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi on November 4, 2023.

Fourteen years down, the low-keyed barrister has been playing on a whole different team that saw his contributions recently feted when he was named a finalist of the Business Daily Top 40 Under 40 Men 2023.

The 37-year-old has been instrumental in shaping the Sauti Sol franchise, a Sol Group of Companies encompassing Sauti Sol Entertainment, Sol Generation Records, Sol Fest and Sol Generation Music Publishing & Distribution. His business card reads Head of Business Affairs – Sauti Sol Group.

Read: Sauti Sol firm eyes 300 artists with talent programme

Over the decade-plus years, as the Sauti Sol franchise grew and the vocalists grew into celebrities, Mr Omambia continues to resist the allure of coming into the limelight.

Turning ideas into business

“By the way, this is my first media interview in 14 years, I like playing in the background. In this business I am okay with being behind the scenes, let the stars be the stars and the leaders be the leaders. The more you are unknown the better it is for you to negotiate and discharge your mandate which in my case is executing these ‘guys’ (Sauti Sol) ideas. They are the visionaries, mine is to help them understand what the business is by structuring those ideas,” Mr Omambia tells the Business Daily.

Mr Omambia is modest, saying Sauti Sol’s success has taken team work.  “We all work together for the common goal which is to do better and be different,” he says.

But even then, an aspect of contribution he takes credit for, is what he describes as rate standardisation in the industry.

“I think, first, my contribution would be taking the pressure of the business from the boys or guys as we call them and enabling them to concentrate on creativity and writing soundtracks to people’s lives. Second is contributing to the creative economy standardisation when it comes to contracting the rights and Intellectual Property (IP) of artistes, and lastly, putting value to art” says the Entertainment and IP lawyer.

He explains that there wasn’t much value when they started in 2009, “until when we started standardising certain things, putting certain legal requirements when it comes to dealing with art.”

Savara Mudigi of Sauti Sol band performs during Sol Fest concert at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi on November 4, 2023.

Learning from well-developed markets, especially the West, standardising the market was the queen piece on the chess board that Mr Omambia says they had to push, to start generating meaningful income from art.

“For a very long time, there was a perception that the music/creative industry was haphazard. There are image, digital, and music rights and all these have different values. That is what we did, bringing the best practice home and making it a standard. People had to understand that art has value but not just one unitary value but several units brought together,” he explains.

Read: Should Raila pay Sauti Sol? Experts weigh in

Business structure

A day in the office for Mr Omambia begins by catching up with the different team leaders of the businesses within the group for briefs and debriefs. Later on, he meets brands or potential partners and examines contracts that need to be attended to.

“Our structure of operations is that we have Crispin Obala heading the Music and Publishing business, William Nanjero is team leader Sol Generation and then we have Zaida DSuleiman and Kavutha Asio handling the Sol Fest franchise,” he explains.

As the lead counsel for the Sauti Sol Group, Mr Omambia also has a team of his own consisting of two lawyers.

“For the legal team we have myself, Emmy Osoro and Sally Chui, two brilliant young ladies we got from Strathmore through our internship partnership with the university,” he says.

Willis Chimano of Sauti Sol band performs during Sol Fest concert at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi on November 4, 2023.

With the ‘boys’ now taking an indefinite sabbatical, the question that a majority have been seeking answers to, if social media reactions are anything to go by, is, what happens next? Does indefinite imply Sauti Sol is done for good?

 “Every Sauti Sol business will continue. Sauti Sol the band might not be there but Sauti Sol the brand(s) will be,” Mr Omambia says.

Read: Sauti Sol, Universal Music ink recording deal

Memorable Sh80m final show

Bien Aime Baraza, Savara Mudigi, Polycarp Otieno and Wills Chimano, buddies since their heydays in Upper Hill Secondary School exited the stage as a group with a memorable, emotional electric show, the Sol Fest staged on November 4, 2023 at Uhuru Grounds, Nairobi.

The three-hour sold-out farewell concert attracted 15,000 attendees despite the tickets costing Sh20,000 for the VIP, Sh6,500 for the second tier ticketing and Sh2,500 for the third tier.

Sauti Sol guitarist Polycarp Otieno performs during Sol Fest concert at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi on November 4, 2023.

To make it a memorable experience, Mr Omambia says, the production of the concert cost Sh80 million.

“Sol Fest is a journey of continuous improvement. The idea was conceived in 2015 when the boys felt it was time to have our own event ecosystem which then became The Live and Die in Africa tour. When the album came out we went around seven towns in Nairobi with two branded buses. We then executed the plan with the first Sol Fest happening in 2021,  another  in 2022 and the latest last year.”

He explains the genesis of the Sol Fest maintaining more editions are yet to come even with Sauti Sol out of the picture.

Preparation for last year’s edition began in early March with a comprehensive document of what went wrong in 2021 and 2022 as the blueprint.

“Guys like DJ Exclusive gave us a long list of things he thought we could  do better. With the document ,we sat down and thought about who in the industry has the expertise and the know-how to put up a good event experience and the only names that came up were Saida Suleiman and Kavutha Asio. They have been in the industry for 30 years individually.”

What next for Sauti Sol?

Mr Omambia notes it will be an interesting phase for him when the reality of the changes [boy’s indefinite hiatus] starts to kick in.

“For instance, we have Sauti Sol YouTube channel with over one million subscribers and we are already thinking what we are going to do with it as far as new content is concerned. We have 1.4 million on Facebook, 1.1 million on Twitter, and 2.3 million on Instagram. So what are the ideas around those numbers that will enable us to continue generating income because the goal is to keep building wealth,” he says.

But the clearest indication already manifesting, Mr Omambia says is that the Sol Group will have new brands to build its own.

“With the boys, each taking on an individual path, I think we will have four more new contributors to the business, and we have more brands to build individually as a business. It’s a very interesting phase to be in at the moment and I can only wait to see how it pans out,” he adds.

The game plan

For Mr Omambia and the boys, the game plan is to leave an estate that will outlast their generation, their children’s generation and more to come.

“How long has Michael Jackson been dead and his family is still living off the wealth that his estate continues to generate? He is the highest-grossing dead celebrity. That’s the mindset we encompass at Sauti Sol Group. Even with the hiatus, the boys are okay. They have invested pretty much in several things and we will continue to build new ways of creating wealth.”

According to Forbes, the highest-paid dead celebrity in 2023 is Michael Jackson ranking first with $115 million in earnings followed by his late father-in-law Elvis Presley at position two with an earning of $100 million. Bob Marley ranks sixth with an earning of $16 million.

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