It’s a happy 11th birthday for Afrobeats label Mavin, which was founded in 2012 by Nigerian producer and label executive Don Jazzy.
The company says it has now reached the milestone of more than 6bn streams globally for its artists. One of the key drivers of that is Rema, who has notched up more than 3bn of those streams in less than three years.
Mavin pointed to his 34.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, which has helped him break into the top 100 artists on that service (he’s currently 98th). The Selena Gomez-starring version of his ‘Calm Down’ track is on course to do 1bn streams on Spotify alone in less than a year since its release.
Another of Mavin’s artists, Ayra Starr, has reached more than 1.5bn global streams, with the label expressing high hopes that its latest signing, rapper and afrofusion artist Lifesize Teddy, can follow in her footsteps.
“Our promise has always been to continue supporting the expansion of Afrobeats into new territories and markets via collaboration and innovation. The growth has been staggering and great to see,” said Don Jazzy.
Mavin will also soon be into the second cohort of its ‘Future Five’ internship scheme for 18-23 year-old budding executives.
“We also won’t stop working with and supporting our community here – by providing a platform, developing careers, championing talent, sharing our knowledge and educating our people about the music and the industry,” added COO Tega Oghenejobo.
“We want to create value for our global audiences and get even more people interested in the music business and in the culture.”
The label’s success is part of the wider story of Afrobeats’ growth globally. Annual Afrobeats streams on Spotify have grown from 2bn in 2017 to 13.5bn in 2022, while Nigerian artists generated Spotify payouts of around $14.2m in 2022 – up 74% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Burna Boy’s recent London stadium show (a milestone in itself) was streamed by Apple Music and TikTok, shortly after he became the first African artist to reach 1bn streams on Audiomack – the streaming service that has focused heavily on Africa for its growth.
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