Spotify marks one year in Ghana

WHEN evaluating the music sector in the 21st century, it’s impossible to overlook the impact of streaming services. Although some are opposed to the subscription-based services, there is no doubt that these platforms have enhanced listener engagement.

According to TheVerge.com, in April 2019, Spotify became the first digital music service to register 100 million paying users. In addition, a 32 per cent growth rate has been reported year-on-year.

Interestingly, Ghana appears to be tapping into the success of Spotify since the streaming site’s official launch in the country last year.

A report on the Ghanaian music industry’s performance in the year under review by Spotify indicates that Ghana has recorded massive wins globally.

As explained by Angela Akua Asante of Spotify Ghana, Ghanaian music has seen a 22.28 per cent increase in new local songs added to the Spotify platform by creators.

According to her, Ghanaians have become more familiar with the platform with Ghana ranking among the Top 10 new markets with the most user-generated playlists of 597,000 streams.

The report stated that Afropop from Ghana is experiencing massive growth in the US, where the genre has found 21 per cent of its audience and enjoyed a 160 per cent growth in the United States since Spotify became accessible in Ghana.

Also, Ghanaian Gospel music has registered a 70 per cent growth within the same time with over half of the streams coming from outside of Ghana.

She pointed out that Spotify’s one-year anniversary in Sub-Saharan Africa is a win for Ghana’s music industry where rapper Sarkodie beat the likes of Drake, Nigeria’s Burna Boy, Joe Boy, Davido, Wiz Kid and Justin Bieber as the most streamed artiste in Ghana.

“For solo tracks, KiDi's Touch It rules, with Spotify users in India, the USA, Netherlands, the UK and Mexico streaming the song the most,” she said.

With critics alleging that digitsation has brought challenges and falling revenue to the industry, Madam Asante noted that it has also brought new opportunities to a wider variety of artistes. By reducing search costs, the digitisation of music makes it easier to discover new artistes and albums.

For instance, among the 10 exported local songs were Amaarae’s Sad Girls Luv Money remix with Kali Uchis, and Moliy, KiDi's Touch It, Gyakie’s Forever remix with Omah Lay and King Promise’s Alright.

“Over the past few decades, the music industry has continuously embraced forward-thinking technological advancements ad the results on the performance of Ghanaian music on Spotify is evident of that,” she noted.