Tayebwa David, Chief Music Business Officer at Opus Music Africa
Leaders Digest examines the views and decisions of executives and industry leaders through reporting, interviews, and opinion-led analysis.
Tayebwa David offers a practitioner’s perspective on the evolution of Africa’s digital music landscape. Serving as both Chief Music Business Officer at Opus Music Africa and Director of Content at the streaming service Josplay, his insights are grounded in the operational reality of building local platforms.
David frames the current era, defined by the global rise of genres like Afrobeats and Amapiano, as a critical juncture for infrastructure development.
Analysts cite record streaming metrics, international chart placements, and worldwide tours as indicators of the sector’s growth. This expansion has concurrently fueled debate among executives regarding Africa’s reliance on external digital ecosystems.
A central theme is the strategic balance between leveraging international distribution networks and developing sovereign, culturally attuned commercial platforms.
From his vantage point at Josplay, David observes that while global audiences have embraced Africa’s rhythm, the spotlight has exposed systemic vulnerabilities. He argues that the artists driving this movement are frequently not compensated equitably, and the continent’s diverse sonic heritage risks being homogenized.
The executive characterizes the initial phase of digital adoption, marked by the entry of major global streaming services, as a necessary first wave that provided vital distribution. The limitation of this inherited model, in his analysis, is twofold, encompassing critical economic and cultural dimensions.
On the economic front, David references prevailing industry data on streaming payout rates, which analysts cite as requiring millions of plays to generate substantive income.
He further highlights a perceived geographic revenue disparity, where streams consumed within African markets are reported to generate a lower per-play value than those in wealthier Western territories.
The result, he suggests, is a system where wealth generated from African creativity flows outward through international channels, rather than cycling back to strengthen local infrastructure.
“We are creating the tools that guarantee the creative wealth flowing from the continent benefits our own people first,” David states. He concludes that the industry is at a pivotal moment, possessing the talent and audience, and must now demonstrate the resolve to support infrastructure that reflects local values.
We Are Creating The Tools That Guarantee The Creative Wealth Flowing From The Continent Benefits Our Own People First
Culturally, the executive contends that global algorithmic systems lack the depth to properly catalog and promote Africa’s diverse sonic landscape. He suggests that while broad genre tags gain recognition, the nuanced relationships between subgenres, languages, and regional traditions are often lost.
When the system treats foundational African genres as sidebars to a homogenized global pop landscape, he argues it actively erodes the visibility of the continent’s cultural depth.
His proposed solution, embodied in platforms like Josplay, centers on building a new “cultural infrastructure.” This model champions expert-led human curation over automated algorithms.
He explains that playlists are handpicked by teams of African music historians and cultural curators, a core differentiation aimed at treating African music as a vast, interconnected universe worthy of dedicated contextual understanding.
This approach extends to integrating formats like Audio Literature and Spoken Word, which David describes as vessels for foundational stories and indigenous wisdom. The objective is to create a more complete digital repository of African creative expression.
The long-term vision is one of economic self-determination and sector sovereignty. David frames the development of these platforms not merely as market competition, but as a necessary step toward professional sovereignty.
The goal is to architect business models with localized payment systems and transparent economics to ensure a greater share of generated revenue recirculates within the African creative economy.
The broader industry conversation now centers on whether this model represents a sustainable niche or a foundational shift required for the long-term health of the African music sector.
For business leaders like Tayebwa David, the strategic path is clear: the enduring health of the African Music Renaissance will depend fundamentally on the quality and orientation of the commercial and cultural infrastructure built to support it from within the continent.
