One of the biggest conversations I have with artists across Cameroon is about royalties.
An artist releases a song, gets thousands of streams, hears the song on radio, performs it at events, sees it circulating online, and then asks a simple question:
“Where is the money?”
The truth is that the global music industry runs on a system that many African artists still do not fully understand.
Behind every stream, broadcast, public performance, and license is a network of publishing societies and collective management organizations responsible for collecting and distributing royalties to songwriters, composers, and publishers.
Organizations such as ASCAP and BMI in the United States, SACEM in France, GEMA in Germany, PRS for Music in the United Kingdom, and IPRS in India collect billions every year on behalf of rights holders.
Yet many artists in our part of the world focus only on recording and releasing music without understanding the systems that generate long term income.
In many cases, artists are not poor because their music is not making money. They are losing money because they are disconnected from the structures that collect it.
As the music industry becomes increasingly digital, knowledge of publishing, copyright, neighboring rights, royalty collection, and music administration is becoming just as important as talent.
The artist who understands the business side of music has a significant advantage over the artist who focuses only on the creative side.
This is why I continue to advocate for music business education across Cameroon and Francophone Africa. We cannot build sustainable careers if we do not understand how value is created, tracked, collected, and distributed.
The future of African music will not only be shaped by great songs. It will also be shaped by creators who understand ownership, rights, and monetization.
The question is no longer whether your music can generate revenue.
The question is whether you understand where that revenue comes from and how to claim it.
