African Creators Struggle to Capitalize on Afrobeats’ Global Success Amid Structural IP Challenges

Afrobeats has surged from a regional music movement to a global cultural phenomenon, influencing fashion, digital content, and international entertainment. However, African creators, especially Nigerian artists, are not capturing the full financial rewards of this success. Industry leaders attribute this shortfall to entrenched structural gaps in intellectual property (IP) frameworks and external ownership models within Africa’s creative ecosystem.

This critical issue was the focus of the BusinessDay Creative Entertainment Summit 2026, held under the theme “Ownership is the New Global: Monetising Afrobeats Power Through Equity, Transparency and Strategic Scale.” The event convened artists, investors, regulators, and creative entrepreneurs to discuss how Africa’s entertainment sector can evolve into a sustainable and equitable business environment.

Frank Aigbogun, Publisher of BusinessDay Media Limited, opened the summit by acknowledging Afrobeats’ global influence but questioned whether African creators are truly benefiting from the value their creativity generates. “While the world celebrates our creativity, an important question remains: who truly owns the value that is being created?” he asked.

Aigbogun stressed that the future growth of Africa’s creative economy hinges on stronger IP ownership, transparent royalty systems, improved governance, access to capital, and the development of globally competitive creative enterprises.

Obi Asika, Director-General of Nigeria’s National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), echoed these concerns, highlighting that Nigeria’s music sector is not hindered by a lack of talent or audience but by weak industry structures and ownership gaps. “Nigeria does not have a music industry problem per se,” Asika said. “The Nigerian music industry has been going for well over 70 years. But we do have issues with ownership and architecture.”

He clarified that ownership does not necessarily mean holding 100 percent of an asset but securing the best possible deal to retain meaningful economic benefits. Asika also pointed to significant underreporting of Nigeria’s music economy, citing research estimating the sector’s value at approximately $600 million.

Beyond music, the broader entertainment ecosystem, including nightlife, presents an even larger economic opportunity. A report tracking Lagos nightlife estimated its economy at about $900 million in 2024, with the national figure potentially reaching billions of dollars.

Despite this economic potential, Asika lamented the lack of licensing structures for businesses that commercially use Nigerian music. “The worst part about it is they’re making all this money, but they’re not paying,” he said, referring to clubs, lounges, transport operators, and other commercial users of music who fail to contribute royalties.

“The first thing to understand is our music is not free. It belongs to somebody — either the artist that created it, the label that invested in it, or the management company that developed it,” Asika emphasized.

He further warned about the prevalence of unregistered intellectual property, which causes many creators to lose revenue because their works cannot be properly tracked or monetized.

The global rise of Afrobeats offers a major opportunity, with Nigerian artists increasingly dominating international streaming platforms. In 2024, three of the top 10 most streamed artists worldwide hailed from Nigeria. Yet, Asika cautioned that many of the assets driving Afrobeats’ global success are owned outside Africa, creating a financial imbalance.

“The artists who built Afrobeats globally are not its primary financial beneficiaries,” he stated, urging increased domestic investment to match the capital, infrastructure, and expertise that foreign companies bring.

To address these challenges, the NCAC is advancing initiatives to strengthen Nigeria’s creative economy. These include efforts to improve intellectual property registration, enhance industry data collection, support creators, and develop institutional frameworks.

Plans are underway to establish stronger industry structures such as a Nigerian Music Business Council, a creative economy centre of excellence, and improved systems for licensing, publishing, and royalty collection. These measures aim to ensure that African creators can retain and multiply the economic value of their cultural output rather than remain mere exporters of raw talent.