Here’s the absurdity: An artist can sell out London’s O2 Arena three nights running but couldn’t walk into a Lagos bank and receive a $50,000 business loan. Welcome to Afrobeat’s grand paradox, a genre producing billions abroad while its producers struggle to obtain basic funding at home.
Well, the dilemma gained a potential answer. Working Capital Partners, Aquarian Consult, and the Ministry of Small Business of Saint Kitts and Nevis launched the Afri-Caribbean Creative Economy Development Initiative, proposing a $2 billion asset-backed credit line facility designed to provide working capital to music labels, artists, and creative entrepreneurs.
Global recorded music revenues reached $29.6 billion in 2024 and grew further to $31.7 billion in 2025. The Sub-Saharan Africa music sector has been one of the fastest-expanding regions internationally, with recorded music revenues rising 22.6% in 2024 (surpassing $100 million for the first time at ~$110 million) and another 15.2% in 2025 (reaching ~$120 million). Yet only a small fraction of the value generated by Afrobeats actually trickled back into Nigeria, the core of the genre, with the remainder seized by international record labels and distribution businesses.
The Harvard report highlighted aggressive growth of global labels into Africa, including Universal Music Group’s majority holding in Mavin Records and Warner’s relationship with Chocolate City, amid minimal African ownership in publishing, touring, distribution and licensing. The infrastructure that extracts value sits offshore. The talent that makes it sits landlocked.
The Capital Lock-Out
Traditional banks don’t understand music catalogs as collateral. Venture funding pursues tech startups, not touristic infrastructure. The few investors who do comprehend the creative economy sometimes impose exploitative terms that deprive artists of ownership totally. Despite international expansion, many independent artists and music companies across Africa and the Caribbean continue to confront restricted access to institutional financing needed to operate globally.
Asset-based lending for music relies on the value and performance of music assets such as songs, royalties, or catalogues as collateral, allowing borrowing up to a specified proportion of the estimated value of music assets. An artist with a catalog generating $200,000 annually can borrow against future royalties while preserving 100 percent ownership
