His Second Single of the Year is Both a Dance Anthem and a Call for Action

At this stage, we trust that you have listened, partied well, and whined your waist thoroughly to Tiakola’s new summer banger “Mélo Décalé.” Whether it was during Fête de la Musique or ongoing festivals, we hope the mélo vibe fused with Coupé-Décalé, an Ivorian music staple, has brought you joy and a great time every chance it was played.  Now, unless you haven’t been paying close attention, Tiakola is one of the few French-Congolese artists who managed to reach global listeners beyond his core Francophone audience, notably his feature with Asake “BADMAN GANGSTA” landing him number one on the Nigerian Top Turntable Charts, the first artist from the Congolese diaspora to ever do so.

Behind the dance moves, the cityboy aesthetic, and the fun music video that was released alongside the single, there is a hidden message Tiakola wanted to convey. And that is the lack of monetization by streaming services for African artists. As of now, what the soft campaign through the song reveals is that out of 54 African countries, a shocking number of only 13 countries are officially eligible for the YouTube Partner Program. This includes Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Why is this important, you may ask? While African music is growing exponentially at a rapid pace, now ever more away from just English-speaking nations, African artists must receive the support they need to sustain their craft. Since foreign investments are frugal and unreliable, online monetization is a key aspect in which artists from the continent can not only grow their careers, but also make a decent living for themselves. Although hacks are floating online on how to profit from monetisation, even if, due to your region, you’re ineligible for such, there is a clear underlying reason why those in control of these streaming platforms want to pick and choose what is deemed valuable and what is not.

Because if we’re speaking of numbers, then they are evidently there. In Ivory Coast and Congo alone, you can name more than 10 artists who reach at least a million monthly listeners, not to mention the number of supporters they gather during concerts, whether it is in each of their respective regions or abroad. What this decision shows, which has been in place for decades, is that there is a lack of understanding of the nuances of how culture spreads and travels, aside from Western norms. If execs understood how music listeners on the continent have to resort to alternatives such as pirating just to listen to their favourite artist, because online services are not accessible to them as it would in the West. This pivots a large number of potential streamers that would add to the existing numbers.

But truthfully, nothing could explain this phenomenon. Every month, there seems to be a new African artist breaking records, whether it is on stage, at awards shows, or even in music charts, so to sit there and pretend African music does not deserve the fruit of its labours is ludicrous. That is to say, the lack of monetization as well as lower revenues based on someone’s nationality should be abolished. Surely, platforms such as Spotify, which had an entire lineup of artists of African descent during FDLM, could use the same logic and decision-making in public as in private, understanding that there is a growing demand for  African music, as a collective, and fair compensation for everyone allows for their platforms to continue to benefit from just as much, right?