Kenyan artists face significant challenges when it comes to earning the same rates as their international counterparts, and the reasons are multifaceted. Here’s an analysis based on the insights shared:
1. Investment in Music and Branding
- International acts like Diamond Platnumz and Burna Boy invest heavily in their craft, teams, and infrastructure. Diamond, for instance, supports his artists with housing, cars, managers, and high-quality production.
- Kenyan artists often lack similar financial backing and infrastructure, limiting their ability to scale their reach and command higher fees.
2. Team Dynamics and Management
- International artists have large, well-organized teams managing everything from marketing and security to technical production and logistics.
- Many Kenyan artists approach negotiations without managers or teams, reducing their perceived value. Promoters see a one-man operation and scale down the pay accordingly.
3. Marketing and Strategic Promotion
- Diamond’s success is built on aggressive marketing, both online and offline. His team ensures a song hits the market with impact.
- Kenyan artists often rely on organic growth and lack the financial resources to push their music in the same way.
4. Infrastructure and Support Systems
- International artists have access to bigger markets, endorsements, and international platforms that boost their profiles and earnings.
- The Kenyan industry lacks robust structures to propel artists to a global stage, which in turn caps their earning potential.
5. Promoter Mindset
- Promoters assess an artist’s ecosystem, including their team and production quality. International acts bring more than just a performance—they deliver a full package that justifies the cost.
- Kenyan artists, with fewer visible overheads, are perceived as less expensive to book.
6. Cultural and Market Dynamics
- Kenyan artists compete in a saturated local market, making it difficult to monopolize attention and demand.
- International acts, on the other hand, command novelty and exclusivity, which increases their value during negotiations.
The Path to Higher Earnings
- Invest in Teams: Kenyan artists must build professional teams for management, marketing, and production to enhance their brand value.
- Quality Over Quantity: Focus on high-quality music production and live performance setups that meet international standards.
- Strategic Marketing: Actively invest in marketing campaigns that push their music to larger audiences, including international markets.
- Collaboration: Work with international artists and labels to gain exposure and learn industry best practices.
- Industry Unity: Promoters and local artists must collaborate to create exclusive Kenyan events with adequate budgets that prioritize local talent.
Until Kenyan artists invest heavily in their craft and teams, and the industry restructures to support local talent, international artists will continue to dominate pay scales.
