Muyiwa Awoniyi, manager of Grammy-winning Nigerian singer Tems, has raised concerns about the huge income differences Nigerian artists face on music streaming platforms.
In the latest episode Afrobeats Intelligence Podcast Awoniyi highlights how the geographic location of music streams plays an important role in determining the income artists receive from these platforms.
According to him, while artists in countries such as Sweden can earn between $8,000 and $10,000 from a million streams, Nigerian musicians earn just $300 for the same number of streams.
“Do you know how much a million streams are worth from Nigeria? It’s $300,” Mainly re-examined. “Your Million Streams [in Sweden] Between $8,000 and $10,000. ”
The TEMS manager explained that this imbalance is mainly due to the lower price of Nigerian music streaming subscriptions, N900 per month on Spotify, and the wider economic challenges affecting the country’s purchasing power.
Awoniyi further notes that streaming platforms run on territorial models, meaning revenue depends on the region where the stream originated. “Spotify treats things on territory. So if my IP anchored to an area where a million streams are $300, I’m cooked,” He said.
His comments have since sparked a conversation in the Nigerian music industry, talking about the need to provide a more equitable streaming revenue structure for African artists.
“One million streams in Nigeria are currently $300… In Sweden, your 1 million streams are $8000-$10000…”
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– @𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘀𝗯𝗼𝘆 (@OneJoblessBoy) May 30, 2025
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