Mr Eazi launches $20m fund for African artists

The Africa Music Fund seeks to invest in emerging artists, and is backed by 88mph, a company that invests in businesses across Africa. The Afrobeats musician revealed the news in an interview with CNN on 17 July. He said the AMF would create access to larger audiences for its recipients by helping them get more bookings while distributing their music.

Through the AMF, Mr Eazi wants to develop a new music business funding model on the continent. One of his main reasons for funding music is to give financial assistance to artists to expand their catalogue. The artist also believes many financial institutions do not know how to value the music industry and fall short in providing appropriate funding for musicians.

Selected artists will be given funding upfront and based on their revenue and expected earnings they will pay back the investment in instalments.

"Let's say we have a two-year contract with someone. In those two years, we will be their representative, helping them manage their music, and as they grow we will be deducting the initial investment from their earnings,” Mr Eazi said.

"Artists cannot go to banks to get money for their music because financial institutions don't understand how to secure intellectual property. They get it for physical properties but not for music. So, because not a lot of people understand the music business, there is no finance product for musicians. For artists who already have footprints in the industry, we will just do our research. We can check how much they are earning or likely to earn from their streaming revenue."

Additionally, Mr Eazi's emPawa Africa has partnered with music tech company Vydia to launch Cinch Distro, a music distribution platform for upcoming artists that will also be used to determine which artists get funding. Through Cinch Distro, artists can upload one song to major music stores for 500 naira (about $1.19), or 4 000 naira for unlimited song uploads.

"The way it works is that they register on the platform and make their music. It has an AI-based tech that will filter their possible revenue based on the number of streams they get on the platform alongside a couple of other metrics,” Mr Eazi said.

“The artists basically use the platform to distribute their music and we monitor their progress. That way we can make data-backed decisions about who to invest in. With our tech platform you can see how much you earn in real time. You can also see how much you owe and how that is being deducted."

With the AMF, Mr Eazi's adds to his growing portfolio of music investments on the continent. In 2018, he launched emPawa Africa, an incubator programme that provides artists with funding and resources to market their music, access radio and TV airplay, and learn how to become successful entrepreneurs.