Daily News Briefing: Music, Tech, and Africa (02/15/22)

The Recording Academy Announces Official Schedule For GRAMMY Week 2022

The Recording Academy announced today the official GRAMMY Week schedule for the 2022 GRAMMYs Awards show, officially known as the 64th GRAMMY Awards. The show will be broadcasting live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sun, April 3 (8-11:30 p.m., live ET/5-8:30 p.m., live PT) on the CBS Television Network and Paramount+. This year's week-long celebration will feature both virtual and live elements.

Source: Recording Academy

Warner Music Group Launches Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Institute

WMG’s Global DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Institute is a hub of innovation, learning, growth, and action to drive impactful change at WMG and beyond. Through the Institute, we support the creation and practice of tailored strategies to sustainably advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in our teams, organization, and communities.

Source: Warner Music Group

Round Hill’s Latest Funding Went Almost Entirely to Rock Catalog

Round Hill Music Royalty Fund focused almost exclusively on classic rock when spending the entirety of the $86.5 million of proceeds from a C share offering in July 2021. About 90% of the roughly 5,600 compositions acquired with C share funding was the rock genre, the company disclosed on Feb. 11.

Source: Billboard

Spotify for Artists Is Now Available in 26 Languages

Spotify for Artists is rolling out 9 new languages – in addition to English and the 16 languages that were made available in December – on the web and in our mobile app. With 26 different languages now available, you can take control of your Spotify presence in the language you know best.

Source: Spotify

Introducing Ruler: Our Tool for Measuring Android App Size

But working with app size is not always easy, particularly for large applications with numerous contributors adding cool new features. That’s why we built and open sourced Ruler — a tool to measure and analyze the size of your Android apps, built with automation in mind.

Source: Spotify

Egyptian fintech startup MoneyHash raises $3m pre-seed as it emerges from beta

Egyptian fintech startup MoneyHash, which uses a universal API and a unified checkout experience to help businesses consolidate and grow their payments and financial tech stack, has announced a US$3 million pre-seed funding round as it emerges from beta to launch across the Middle East and Africa.

Source: Disrupt Africa

Burna Boy hits 200 million streams on Boomplay, becomes first african artiste ever to do so

Boomplay streams are calculated based on industry-recognized standards in which only no less than thirty-second stream is equal to one stream count. Barely a year after Burna Boy was celebrated as the first artiste to hit the 100 million streams milestone on Boomplay, he has gone ahead to double the feat, making him the first African artiste to be streamed 200 million times on Africa's #1 streaming service, Boomplay.

Source: Pulse NG

Silk Sonic celebrate Valentine’s Day with cover of Con Funk Shun’s ‘Love’s Train’

Silk Sonic have rung in the most romantic day of the year with an expectedly sensual release – their soulful, groove-laden take on Con Funk Shun’s 1892 hit ‘Love’s Train’

The cover comes ahead of their three-month Las Vegas residency kicking off next week.

Source: NME

SIMONA, EQUAL Ambassador of the Month, Shares the Moments That Bring Her Confidence

This month, SIMONA is reaching even more listeners around the globe as Spotify’s EQUAL Ambassador of the Month—part of Spotify’s EQUAL Global Music Program that aims to combat gender disparity in the music industry by amplifying the work of women creators globally. After sharing her music as Spain’s EQUAL Ambassador, this new role makes SIMONA the face of Spotify’s EQUAL Global playlist, and her song “SHUT UP,” with Lee Eye and Blackthoven, is featured front and center.

Source: Spotify

Amazon Music Names BRELAND as the Next Breakthrough Artist, Expands Its Breakthrough Program to Support More Emerging Artists

Amazon Music reveals that the country trailblazer will be the next Breakthrough Artist in the U.S., receiving a global campaign to support his upcoming releases, including enhanced playlist support, social media campaigns, an Amazon Original song, marketing opportunities, and bespoke editorial content

Source: Amazon

Netflix's first 'African reality show 'Young, Famous & African'

This glitzy reality series follows a group of young, affluent and famous media personalities from across the continent who come together in Joburg on a quest to make new connections, find love and possibly rekindle old flames. These jetsetters will see their relationships and patience tested as they mingle with the who’s who of African entertainment.Starring Khanyi Mbau, Diamond Platnumz, Annie Macaulay-Idibia, Innocent "2baba" Idibia, Nadia Nakai, Swanky Jerry, Zari "The Boss Lady", Naked DJ, Kayleigh Schwark, and Andile Ncube.

Source: Netflix

Meet 3 of the Producers Behind Afrobeats’ Latest Hits

We spoke to three Nigerian music producers with multiple hits in their catalogues; P.Priime, the 19-year-old entrusted with Wizkid’s “Anoti,” Olamide’s “Infinity” & “Loading,” and very recently Reekado Banks’ “Ozumba Mbadiwe.” Tempoe, who produced Ckay’s global phenomenon “Love Nwantiti,” Omah Lay’s smash hits “Godly” & “Understand” and Joeboy’s “Sip (Alcohol). And Rexxie, the Grammy-winning producer familiar from Naira Marley hits like “Coming,” “Soapy” and “Am I A Yahoo Boy,” and a viral hit of his own “KPK.”

Source: OkayAfrica

DRC's Libende Boyz Are Using Their Voices to Uplift Troubled Beni

The artists who make up the group share common aims that bring them together. They want to make an artistic contribution in the search for peace, invite other artists and personalities to join them in denouncing all atrocities, and promote a different image of Beni and the DRC, other than the war-zone one usually seen by the rest of the world.

Source: OkayAfrica

Love with Boomplay - Featuring Banky W & Adesua

Happy Valentine's Day!

Banky Wellington &Adesua were put to the test on the Love With Boomplay Valentine special.

Watch to see how they performed.

Source: Boomplay