Africa’s Music Is Going Global, But Nigeria and Kenya Risk Leaving $286m on the Table
Nigeria and Kenya are projected to leave almost $286 million in recorded-music revenue uncollected every year from 2027, not because of a lack of music consumption, but because weaknesses in copyright enforcement, rights management and payment systems are preventing the two countries from capturing more of the value generated by their music industries.
The estimate comes from the Music Economy Development Initiative (MEDI), whose newly expanded data platform maps the music economies of all 55 African countries. The initiative was developed with support from organisations including the Center for Music Ecosystems and Global Citizen.
MEDI estimates that Nigeria accounts for $231.4 million of the unrealised annual revenue, while Kenya accounts for $54.6 million. The projections represent what the countries could capture if they had stronger music-industry infrastructure comparable with similar markets.
The findings highlight a striking contradiction in Africa’s music industry.
African music, particularly Afrobeats and Amapiano, has become a global cultural force, with Nigerian and other African artists attracting audiences across Europe, North America and other major markets. Yet the systems needed to properly identify rights holders, license music and collect royalties have not expanded at the same pace.
MEDI’s analysis points to weaknesses in copyright enforcement, collective management organisations, licensing frameworks, industry data and payment infrastructure as major reasons revenue is being lost.
The estimated Nigerian figure includes about $136.3 million in neighbouring rights — royalties owed to performers and recording rights holders — and another $95.1 million in songwriter and publisher collections.
The scale of the potential loss becomes clearer when compared with Africa’s current recorded-music market.
According to figures cited by MEDI, Sub-Saharan Africa generated about $120 million in recorded-music revenue in 2025, after growing 15.2% during the year. Nigeria’s projected annual unrealised opportunity of $231.4 million is therefore almost twice the size of the region’s entire recorded-music market in 2025.
That does not mean Nigeria is currently losing $231 million in cash every year. Rather, it is an estimate of the additional revenue the Nigerian market could potentially generate and collect if its music ecosystem operated more effectively. MEDI’s model was built using six years of industry data from organisations including IFPI, CISAC and ICMP, comparing Nigeria and Kenya with similar markets.
For musicians, songwriters, producers and publishers, weak copyright infrastructure can mean that music is widely consumed without everyone who owns a legal interest in it receiving the royalties they are entitled to.
Nigeria has made some progress. In February, the Nigerian Copyright Commission paid ₦1.21 billion to the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) under the private-copying levy — a mechanism that had remained largely unused since it was introduced into Nigerian law decades ago.
Streaming is also growing rapidly. Spotify data cited by MEDI shows that Nigerian artists received more than ₦60 billion in royalties from over 30 billion streams in 2025. But the relatively low purchasing power of the Nigerian market means that streams generated locally can produce considerably less revenue than equivalent consumption in wealthier markets.
The findings raise a broader economic question: Can Africa turn its growing cultural influence into a larger domestic economic industry?
Music supports far more than singers. A functioning ecosystem creates opportunities for songwriters, producers, publishers, engineers, marketers, concert organisers, lawyers, distributors, streaming platforms and other creative-sector workers.
MEDI’s findings therefore suggest that improving copyright administration is not simply about protecting artists. It could also help Nigeria and Kenya retain more of the money generated by their cultural exports and create more sustainable creative-sector jobs.
For Nigeria in particular, where Afrobeats has become one of the country’s strongest global cultural exports, the message is significant: the country has already built the music; the challenge now is building the infrastructure capable of fully monetising it.
