Music streaming platforms have made invaluable contributions to the much-celebrated revenue rebound and all-time commercial heights recorded in the music industry after almost two decades of decline. These platforms have used technology to achieve true globalization of the music industry. 

Just recently, Rema’s “Calm Down” with Selena Gomez reached a new peak of No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Interestingly, the artiste had the No. 1 song in Nigeria in May with one of his new releases titled “Charm” which became his first No. 1 entry as a lead artiste on the Official Nigeria Top 100 published by TurnTable Charts. 

Today, we have a Nigerian-born and raised artiste having one of the biggest songs in the largest music market while having another song dominating the charts locally (“Calm Down” peaked at No. 2 on the singles chart in Nigeria and sits at No. 7 on this week’s Top 100 Recurrent Chart). This ‘contrast’ is an example of how far music of any origin can travel across the world and this reality is made possible by streaming platforms such as Apple Music.

Our latest Executive of the Week knows all about this. She noted in this interview that African music has reached listeners across different corners of the globe and how the goal now is to carve out a bigger piece of the global market.  

Linda Ayoola is the Head of Africa and Services at Platoon and lead in crafting the next generation of boundary-shifting African stars such Maleek Berry, Mr Eazi, Amaarae, Crayon, Sun-El Musician, Kwesi Arthur, Ayra Starr, Msaki, Teni and Adekunle Gold amongst many others. Her Nigerian heritage has encouraged her to champion the Platoon Africa division dedicated to helping create a new frontier in African music by executing incredible, unique campaigns and delivering special projects such as bespoke Healthcare for artists and the launch of Platoon Kids music.  

  

Linda Ayoola earns the title of Executive of the Week for her continued work on the continent, the success of Platoon releases on the charts and more recently Khaid’s two top 10 entries “Carry Me Go” & “Jolie as well as Teni’s “No Days Off” which became the artiste’s first top 20 entry in NIgeria in two years.

In this feature, she talks about work at Platoon and her vision for African music, and more. 

TTC: How long have you been working in music?

Linda Ayoola: I’ve worked in the music industry for close to 7 years now.  However, I’ve always had one foot in the creative industry before that, having worked with my husband, Suli Breaks (hyperlink to his instagram), who’s a Poet and has worked with the likes of Sarkodie, Kwesi Arthur and Faithless. So I would say that’s pretty much the start of my journey into the industry

TTC: When did you join Platoon?

Linda Ayoola: I officially joined Platoon in January 2017 at the very early stages of the company.

TTC: How important do you think the part Platoon has played in the growth of Afrobeats in recent years?

Linda Ayoola: I would say, Platoon’s presence in Africa has certainly helped almost cement the conversation around how much value we see in that market. It shows how much we understand the need to push African artistes globally and the fact that we’re part of that story and the legacy at the very start. That’s something that we’ve always wanted to achieve and so I would like to think we’ve played a significant role in the growth of Afrobeats. We’ve worked with many talented artists such as Amaarae, Adekunle Gold and are working with Ayra Starr,  BoySpyce, Sun El Musician and Khaid and so many more. Apple Music also has a successful Afrobeats playlist that feature a lot of artists from the continent.  

TTC: How important do you consider emerging markets such as Nigeria for streaming platforms?

Linda Ayoola: Streaming is a massive market first of all and the focus on Nigeria and Africa is something that should have started long before. It's only now that it is understood that economically, it makes sense.

TTC: How do you decide on which artist to work with, are you focused on established artists? Do you have a preference for some genres within Afrobeats, how do you select your artists when you work with them?

Linda Ayoola:  Platoon is a boutique operation that is part of a class of companies offering artist and label services without actually being a label — i.e., not owning masters or locking people into long-term deals. It’s not quite a distribution aggregator, like TuneCore or CD Baby, and not a platform like SoundCloud or Spotify, but sits somewhere alongside companies like EMPIRE (though it is smaller), offering a la carte options for artists who, more than anything, want its support to double down on their craft.

In terms of the selection of our artists, we as Platoon choose to work for, and this applies to African artists as well as other artists from different territories, on the music. Some artists come to us with already-made music while others want our input as well as our A&R expertise. Secondly, the artist themselves is a factor and what I mean by that is not necessarily where they are in their career, it makes no difference to us, it’s more in regards to their mindset.  So, an entrepreneurial mindset is very important; of course, music is quite important too. I would say someone who is quite independent and they want Platoon to be an extension of their team so that we can add to them and grow with them globally as well. We are super excited about Teni who we are working with and can’t wait for everyone to hear what she has been up to with the new project. 

TTC: As a major player in Afrobeats, what are some of the plans you have as distributor?

Linda Ayoola: In terms of the plans, one of Platoon’s goals is to ensure that our artists become a global success, that’s the key, and also to be a key component of the success in the market and to be part of that story. Platoon wants to be a key player in the market. We want to work with artists who are very keen on being successful within Africa and globally as well - we want to build teams on the ground as well to help that vision. 

I think we both know the future of global music is African; if there is anything I want you to take from this interview, it would be that I think that African music is undeniably global and it’s about now making sure that African artists can get a larger share of the chunk of the commercial success, so, why stop there?