Wale Ozolua is currently the Content Operations and Artiste Services Specialist, Audiomack Africa, which is one of the biggest music streaming platforms in the world. Before his present position, he was Senior Project Manager, ONErpm Africa, a music distribution company. He also has radio experience as OAP and later Head of Programmes at the Beat FM 97.9. In a recent chat with ROTIMI IGE, he spoke on the importance of music streaming for artistes as revenue, the challenges and how Afrobeats is set to take over the world.
Your journey started from radio on The Beat 97.9 FM Ibadan; and now you are into music marketing and distribution. Tell us about your career trajectory.
I must confess that it has been an interesting one. I really did not think that it was going to be this way. God has been really merciful by putting me in touch with specific people who have directly and indirectly helped to shape me into walking this career path that I am on.
My seven-year journey as a radio presenter at BeatFM Ibadan was an exceptional one. I say this because I had no radio experience before even joining the team, so everything I know about radio, I learned from being a part of the team at BeatFM Ibadan. That was the platform I needed to launch myself into the many spaces I had to be in for personal and professional growth. From BeatFM Ibadan, I joined Africa’s leading music marketing and distribution company: ONErpm. I am currently a Content Operations and Artiste Services Specialist at Audiomack.
Digital streaming is the present and future of music. Expand on that.
Back in the day, lovers of music had to either buy physical copies of albums, buy songs off iTunes, or go the way of having to download music illegally from certain websites. With the evolution of music streaming platforms, music consumption has changed worldwide. Music streaming has seen people gaining access to millions of songs from so many artists across the world; all you have to do is pay a monthly subscription. This disruption has seen a rapid and widespread disruption of the music industry changing how people consume music globally.
Music streaming has seen the industry grow into a structure with a value running into several billion of dollars. This impact of streaming has see artistes from everywhere become global superstars and breaking so many barriers that they would have had to struggle with in a bid to get into markets that they never would have had access to.
With advancements in technology, access to music and other types of entertainment has expanded and the time it takes to download and play all types of media from songs to episodes of television shows to full-length movies has decreased significantly. The music streaming industry is growing, and this growth can be expected to continue as the use of digital platforms and smartphones expands.
What was your role at OneRPM and how did you impact your artistes?
I joined as a Project Manager, working with the best brains and learning on the job as well. Everything took proper shape when my Team Lead, Osagie, encouraged me to go join the Music Business Academy for Africa course in 2020. From there, I learned a lot, got better. Working with ONErpm was a huge one for me. I was part of the team that worked with artists like Bella Shmurda, Timaya, Reminisce, Flavour, KCee, Fiokee, Zlatan, YCee, Kelvyn Boy, Wendy Shay, 1da Banton etc. Working with ONErpm moved me from playing music on radio for listeners, to selling music for people to listen to.
You just resumed at AudioMack, one of the most popular music streaming platforms. Kindly debunk the myth about how musicians earn per click. Is it a dollar per click really?
Audiomack is a discovery platform that is focused on independent and emerging artistes and creators.
Our goal is to break new artistes and help them throughout every stage of their careers. Audiomack listeners are engaged and looking to discover their next favourite artiste. Our listeners are tastemakers, influencers, crate-diggers, and music-lovers who want to help move music forward. Tens of thousands of artistes have earned their first 10,000 plays—and their first million plays—on Audiomack.
Artistes from all over the world can apply to be a part of Monetisation Programme (AMP). The Audiomack programme is open to all authenticated creators. Payments are complicated. Regardless, at Audiomack, we make it simple to enroll in AMP, and we also help understand how much you’ve earned, and get paid out.
Audiomack offers a variety of payment options that vary depending on region and the capabilities of our payment provider, Tipalti.
Audiomack calculates ‘revenue per stream’. It is a variable figure that is calculated on a month-to month basis, due to the variability of advertising revenues. This number is calculated by dividing revenue generated from advertisements and subscriptions by the total number of total streams on the Audiomack platform in a calendar month. AMP creators are paid based on the number of streams of their monetised content, multiplied by the ‘revenue per stream’, multiplied by the AMP revenue share, which is fifty (50) per cent.
To clarify, there is no fixed ‘per-stream rate’. Rather, this rate fluctuates based on a variety of factors, including what country the streams occurred in, the number of monetised streams on the platform, the amount of total revenue generated, and more. When Audiomack wins, creators win. It costs money to operate a platform that helps creators further their careers, but AMP exists to make sure creators are paid for their contributions. The more users our platform gain, the more money we can pay our creator community.
How then can artistes earn from digital streaming especially in Nigeria?
There’s really no template on how artistes can earn from digital streaming. One thing that helps is an effective marketing plan or roll out strategies for music releases. I strongly recommend that artistes and their teams have proper plans to help push their contents. Even the A-list artistes like Drake, Beyoncé, Davido, Wizkid, Burnaboy etc have roll out starstegies for their releases.
What challenges do you think upcomers may face getting their music across the world to earn consistent streaming numbers?
Poor musical content, lack of funding, poor understanding of the business aspects of their craft. In Ibadan, the statistics for the most popular artistes is rather baffling.
What are the issues you have identified. Also kindly support with numbers.
The most streamed music creator in Ibadan right now is not even an artist. He is a producer. His name is C-Mart. He has been able to create music that appeals to territories that are always in search for Afrobeats and Afropop musical content. He is currently sitting on about 2.7m career streams on Spotify alone and that’s not a bad number to hit for the young lad. Music creators in Ibadan have got to wake up and smell the coffee. Music consumption is constantly evolving and if they do not get on board, it would be very difficult for them to break into the scene in the next two-five years.
What are the solutions?
Redefine the sound. Research more; be versatile. Pay attention to what your fans or fans of similar artistes within your chosen music genre are listening to. Re-brand, give people a reason or reasons to go stream your releases on Audiomack or any other platform. Take full advantage of platforms to build and expand your fan base. Develop proper marketing plans, be willing to learn and evolve!
Where is Afrobeats headed in world music?
To the top! The doors have been thrown open for Afrobeats music creators and consumers to experience a major global positioning. We’ve seen creators from other parts of the world reaching out to collaborate on music projects. We’ve seen Burnaboy win a Grammy, we’ve seen Tems win BET awards, we’ve seen Davido, Wizkid, Ckay as well as 1da Banton enjoy global acceptance with their musical contents. We are just getting started.
and then