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Summary
Music industry stakeholders should invest more in female musicians. Mentorship opportunities, training programmes, and recognition of excellence through globally recognised awards should be made accessible to enthusiastic women and girls in African music.
| African artistes are making waves in the global music industry which is currently estimated at $25.9 billion. A recent study by Music in Africa showed that Tanzania and Kenya are the biggest exporters of music in the East African region, with musicians like Zuchu and Nikita Kering earning top awards. In North Africa, young hip-hop artistes like ElGrandeToto and Wegz are taking the genre to the next level within the Arab region. South Africa is currently enjoying the increased popularity of its “Amapiano” music style in other African countries, while Central Africa has seen veterans like Koffi Olomidé and Fali Ipupa cement their presence in the global music industry. Moving to West Africa, Nigerian and Ghanaian artistes dominated the airwaves and Digital Service Providers (DSPs) in 2021. Some of West Africa’s notable musical success stems from Beninese singer, Angélique Kidjo’s consecutive Grammy wins and Wizkid and Tems’ song, ‘Essence,’ which earned the duo multiple international awards. Recently, Tems also put Nigeria and the African continent on a global map as she emerged as the first Nigerian artiste in history to have a number one debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with her feature on American singer, Future’s ‘Wait For U.’ |
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While the African music industry is making waves on a global level, women who are a part of that ecosystem are still massively underrepresented. A two-week study of the Nigerian music chart discovered that the only songs played on-air with women credited as producers were that of self-producers like Tems and Simi. Of the 50 songs on “African Heat,” Spotify’s biggest African-focused playlist, none are credited to women music producers. Other musicians in African countries have also voiced out the underrepresentation of women in the music industry. South African hip-hop artiste, Kay Faith, in a conversation with the media, shared that there aren’t many women in the engineering and music production scene in South Africa. Carola Kinasha, a Tanzanian-based musician, highlighted a similar issue in the East African music industry, saying, “we have made ourselves known in the music industry around the world. Yet gender inequality, sexism, and pay gaps persist.” With the underrepresentation of women in the music industry, one would wonder if men are just more creative than women. However, a recent meta-analytic examination of the gender difference in creative performance by the Journal of Applied Psychology showed no empirical difference between men and women’s creativity. The researchers found that the creativity score is correlated with a parieto‐frontal component for both the female and male groups in the brain. Since women’s ability to be creative isn’t the issue, it is glaring that one of the main problems the music industry is facing is the lack of intentional and systemic efforts toward advancing gender inclusion. The cultural notion of women mainly taking care of the home persists, leading to the oversight and underrepresentation of many women in different industries. Female representation, diversity, and inclusion are essential in all areas of society, particularly for economic and sustainable growth. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development points out that the achievement of full human potential and of sustainable development is impossible if one-half of humanity continues to be denied opportunities. |
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The necessity of gender inclusion for national progress is already evident in the recent achievements of Nigerian women in sports and music. Within a week, Tems and Tobi Amusan broke new records that put their country, Nigeria and the African continent on a global map. As previously stated, Tems emerged as the first Nigerian artiste to debut at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100, while Tobi Amusan became Nigeria’s first-ever Gold medalist at the World Championship and a world record holder in athletics. Thus, society must make intentional and systemic efforts to advance gender equality and inclusion in every sector of human endeavour, especially in Africa’s music industry, for the nation to reach its full potential. The first step to fixing things will be for people to have an improved mentality towards the necessity of women’s voices and inclusion in every sector of human existence. Men must not be regarded as the default in the music industry. Entertainment writers must also tell the stories of women in music as much as they tell those of men. More documentaries should be produced on female musicians, with a spotlight on their latest music and continuous promotion of their works. The language in writing about women musicians must not describe them as outliers but reflect them as an integral part of the industry. For instance, when writing about a particular achievement of a music star, their gender need not be the focus. They should not be described as one of the best ‘female’ music stars, but rather as one of the ‘best music stars.’ Executive Heads of top African record labels like Chocolate City, The VTH Season, Super Black Tapes, Kalawa Jazmee, Mavin, and others also have a role to play. They must make intentional efforts at gender representation in audio-media fields by employing many female talents as engineers, scriptwriters, stage designers, and camera personnel, among others. Beyond the efforts of Executive Heads, organisations should have policies and measures in place for equal gender representation within their organisation. This must be systemised across all teams or departments. In the educational sector, government must include more creative and artistic activities (like music, modeling, acting, and performing) in secondary and tertiary institutions. It is also necessary that students (whether male or female) are encouraged to participate in those activities, irrespective of their background or gender. Music industry stakeholders should invest more in female musicians. Mentorship opportunities, training programmes, and recognition of excellence through globally recognised awards should be made accessible to enthusiastic women and girls in African music. On an individual level, fans need to take charge and assist in rewriting the biased narrative in Africa’s music industry. This can be done by listening to more songs of female music stars and amplifying their works online when considered brilliant or enjoyable. This is not recommending preferential treatment for women and girls. It is more of an intentional action to recognise that women and girls’ participation have been neglected and underrepresented over the years, and to redeem this, they must be prioritised. With the willfulness of music industry players, individual music enthusiasts, and an enabling environment, the advancement of gender representation in the music sector will no longer be a piper’s dream but a beautiful reality in Africa. Most importantly, it only gets better for everyone when women and girls feel included. It’s an opportunity to access more lovely musical sounds, gain higher revenue to boost the economy and have a more significant number of musicians who can break world records and continually put Africa on a global map. |
