Lagos State has hosted the crème de la crème of the African music industry at the Lagos Music Conference, the continent’s first pan-African Music Business conference.
As the first industry event on the continent that brings together music business pace-setters from Africa’s key music markets, LMC is first and foremost a platform for high-profile networking. It featured diverse think-tanks from the music industry, with high profile issues discussed.
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Indie vs. Major - Who’s winning in Africa?
Michael Ugwu (Sony West Africa / Nigeria) Priye Isokari (Aristokrat Records / Nigeria) Raphael Benza (Vth Season / SA) Moderator: Benjamin Lebrave (Akwaaba Music / Ghana)
The international speaker line up included, Sipho Dlamini (MD for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa at Universal Music Group), Tuma Basa (Global Programming Head for Hip Hop at Spotify), Tunji Balogun (Senior Director for A&R at RCA Records, who was responsible for the signing of Kendrick Lamar to Interscope and Bryson Tiller to RCA), Marek Fuchs(the manager credited with Sauti Sol’s recent international success), as well as award-winning artist and songwriter, AKA(Vth Season) and Michael Ugwu (GM at Sony Music West Africa).
playRikki Stein (Knitting Factory Records / US) and Marek Fuchs (Sauti Sol Entertainment / Kenya)
The LMC’s sessions were carefully curated to focus on practical topics and current trends in the areas of A&R, Label and Artist Management, Brand Partnerships and Endorsements, Music Sales and Distribution, and Copyright Law, and in a separate track, LMC ran technical workshops aimed at professional sound/audio engineers, producers, artists and DJs.
Forward-thinking artists, managers, label execs and A&R reps, as well as promoters, brand managers of telcos and FMCGs, tech companies, app developers, digital distributors, social media managers, content developers and publishers, and pretty much all professionals that engage directly with the music industry were all in attendance.
According to the organisers, LMC was primarily a conference for professionals, but it attracted more than that, as students and recent graduates interested in joining the industry were also at hand to learn valuable lessons and gain insights into the workings of the music industry.
LMC opened up with a one-day conference, with high-level discussions and practical workshops, which took place on Friday, May 20, at the Civic Centre in Victoria Island, and continues today, Saturday, May 21, 2016, at Muri Okunola Park, with the LMC Launch Pad, featuring workshops for students and recent graduates hoping to enter the music industry, and the LMC Festival.
The LMC Festival will feature the latest crop of the African New School from Nigeria and different African countries.