The Record Industry Has A Big Data Problem: Jinx is launching a company to fix it

 

How Africa Beat Plans On Making The Lives Of Musicians Easier

Jinx is the head of Artists' Relations at Boomplay. Image Courtesy

I met Jinx in2018 at the annual Ongea Music Summit at Sarit Center. Africa Beat, the tech start up of which he is the Chief Marketing Officer was just getting off the groung at the time. Their plan? To make it possible for artists and record labels to monitor airplay on radio and TV. According to Jinx, this would empower musicians with real emiprical data that they can rely on to track  the performance of their content on local broadcast media. But most importantly, they can use that data to claim revenue from MCSK, which adminsters music copy rights and cuts checks for artists.

Speaking to Arthur 'Jinx' Oloo, you get a much clear picture of how Africa Beat is going to give power back to the record industry. 

Before we start, how did a former radio host end up with a big data company? How does that story go?

My start in the entertainment business was as a songwriter and performing artist. I was also the defacto A&R/Manager of the group BLC. I decided to pivot into radio to further understand the business and represent the creative community in that space. While doing so I learnt that charts are an integral part of the industry and in my talking points on radio I would always talk up international charts and highlight the importance of building a local one. Eventually my now partner and CEO & CTO of AfricaBeat DMed me on twitter and the rest is history.

"Royalty accountability has been an issue for a long time. Sync licensing is almost unheard of in our market. These are some of the issues having a reliable private source of big data can solve."

In one breath, Is Africa Beat a tech or big data start up and how does it actually work?

We are a tech start up with big data plans. At our core we have built an API to monitor what plays on radio, aggregate the plays to give rights holders reports on airplay and produce charts for the industry & fans.

Why do you think it is important to have industry level big data?

Royalty accountability has been an issue for a long time. Sync licensing is almost unheard of in our market. These are some of the issues having a reliable private source of big data can solve.

What kind of solution are you working with?

A subscription based model for songwriters, producers, performers, labels, publishers, ad agencies etc to access reports on the use of their work on radio and eventually TV as well.

How do you imagine the industry will be like once you have succeeded?

All the leaked revenue in sync licensing and mismanagement of funds in royalty distribution will be recovered.

Can you talk about who is going to benefit from the data you are monitoring and collecting?

Any rights holder with audio assets for commercial use.

What's the best way to think about your business model: B2C or B2B? How come?

There's 2 main business models the monitoring is definitely b2b for the rights holders but the charts are b2c for the fans, the charts will also be supported by an editorial arm that will be curating content to further educate the masses on music business and entertainment news.

Who are the other players in the arena of big data in music doing something similar to Africa Beat?

No comment.

How do you plan on making the lives of artists, music executives and label owners easier?

Sync agency is something we're seriously considering. To be able to manage sync licensing end to end for rights holders. Other than that the reports will give rights holders detailed insight on their performance which is always helpful and the charts will increase the competitiveness in the market and subsequently lead to increased quality of output.