Nigeria’s music tech scene is a space that has only just started to bloom, with most tech founders creating solutions for distribution and management of music in the country and across Africa.
Some of these founders are leveraging AI and digital distribution to empower Nigerian artists. Their innovations have helped create a bridge to close the gap between talent in Nigeria and global markets.
However, the music tech innovation market is still a growing space, with only a few founders who have found their feet and bridged the gap between the challenges they hoped to solve.
In this article, we list our top 5 music tech founders who have found a way to bridge the gap for African and Nigerian artists.
- Dolapo Amusat
Dolapo Amusat is the founder of WeTalkSound, a music media and news company. Dolapo Amusat is uniquely positioned at the intersection of the creative and tech industries, blending perspectives across multiple fields to drive innovation in Africa’s creative economy. Dolapo is recognized as a professional member of the Grammy Recording Academy and the BET Awards voting academy, and alongside WeTalkSound, he has contributed to empowering the music ecosystem through tech and digital marketing.
- Similoluwa Adegoke
Similoluwa Adegoke is the founder of Turntable, a Nigerian music and entertainment magazine focused on music charts, news, and events. Turntable’s first-ever issue was published in 2020 by Similoluwa. Turntable’s creation of the Top 100 and the Year-End chart is credited with helping revolutionize the digital music tech space in Nigeria. Alongside Turntable, Similoluwa has covered news on Nigerian artists, talent managers, and many others.
- Ayomide Oriowo
Ayomide Oriowo is the co-founder and CEO of Turntable, a Nigerian music charts, music news, and entertainment magazine. Turntable’s launch of the TurnTable Certification System of Nigeria, a music recording certification system for Nigeria, was a pivotal moment for the industry. Ayomide Oriowo and his co-founder, Similoluwa Adegoke, have made monumental contributions to the development of Nigeria’s music industry.
- Eric Okechukwu
Eric Okechukwu is the founder of Interspace Distribution, one of Nigeria’s leading music distribution companies. Interspace distribution is Africa’s all-in-one music distribution platform, delivering music to over 200 streaming platforms. Eric’s contribution to the music tech space expands beyond the Nigerian market, and he is regarded as one of the pioneers of the digital music industry on the continent.
- Abiola Hamzat
Abiola Hamzat is the founder and CEO of Boomkit, a Nigerian musictech platform designed to help independent African artists distribute music and collect royalties easily using local bank accounts. Boomkit also enables independent artists to manage their careers.
Abiola and his co-founders’ motivation for creating Boomkit was to provide a pathway that ensures African artists, who are often denied access to payment platforms like PayPal, can easily access their royalties. This innovation played a major role in bridging the gap between African artists and international streaming platforms.
