uduX, Nigeria’s first domestically launched music streaming service, has developed a product, PopRev that will allow fans to invest in a musician’s project and make profits based on the digital streaming performance. PopRev will redefine accessibility, experiences, and ownership within the music business and disrupt the notion of ‘currency’ for all stakeholders involved.
PopRev packs a thoughtfully engineered tech-stack that aggregates elements from crypto-currency, social networking, influence nodes, reward mechanisms, micro-investments, real-time analytics A.I. (Predictive Algorithms) in one simple, intuitive, and user-friendly platform.
Fans will be able to track their investment via the uduX platform (online and app) and obtain real-time insights into the streaming performance of the music they have invested in. There will also be call-to-actions that’ll allow them to invite friends on to the platform to listen to the artists’ music, share on social media, and also participate in the chance to win real-time experiences with these artists. Investors will then share in the equity that these projects generate.
As a significant partner, uduX has teamed up with PiggyVest (the renowned online savings and investment platform) to deliver PopRev. PiggyVest boasts a 2million+ active investor base and helps its users save and invest billions of naira every month.
PopRev will see both parties play to their strengths – PiggyVest serves as a financial partner for the project, providing a clear path to accountability and revenue generation/allocation for artists and their investors, while uduX leverages its knowledge and domain experience within the music industry to deliver benefits to both artists and investors. Together, uduX and PiggyVest offer a more inclusive and financial model that will shape the future of the music industry in Africa. Artists are free from painful 360-contracts, and PopRev ensures that investors and fans alike can be embedded in an artist’s success story.
Chidi Okeke, CEO of uduX, says “PopRev intends to harness the opportunity between musicians and people who are directly ‘invested’ in their music. It’s about sharing. Creating meaningful experiences that people can connect with and root for. The music industry has continuously failed to innovate, and this has nothing to do with a lack of technology. The problem with innovation in this space is the lack of incentives.
PopRev gives artists access to funding while letting them keep their masters. We’re creating a new artist revenue model driven by fans’ social engagement and the new normal of ‘sharing’. We want to give investors access to metrics and the performance of their investments on-demand. For the wider industry, we’re providing a leg-up to the untapped potential of musical talent in the African diaspora.”
Nigerian international Afrobeats star, Davido cosigns the PopRev platform, tagging it as timely and needful. “The COVID-19 and lockdown situation made it more obvious than ever that it is not sustainable for artists to depend solely on live performances to fund and extend their art. An initiative like PopRev will afford a lot of creators who, for example, struggled through the lockdown, the privilege to create without concerns of funding. This is timely and needful,” Davido comments.
Somto, CEO of PiggyVest, says “uduX is a very innovative solutions platform within the music ecosystem and we’re thrilled to work with them. This is a music business solution that builds equity for African artists and it will be very attractive to our investors. We believe this product will help shape a new business model of revenue generation and open up the market for more data-driven investment.”
PopRev will also operate cohesively with a collective of trusted experts that’ll offer value-added services to guide artists on how best to maximize and deploy the funds received, to level up. One of the network of experts, King Smade, CEO of SMADE Group and co-founder of Afronation and YAM Carnival comments; “The work I do is centered around exporting the best of African talent and culture. Every household in Africa has the talent to bless the entertainment industry and it is my job to find, grow, promote and protect these talents. I am excited because PopRev will empower more and new artists to create at the highest level so we can export and represent the continent’s culture globally.”
Other strategic partners are; (i) MAD Solutions, led by Bugwu Aneto-Okeke – one of Africa’s leading digital content distributors and music aggregators with operations in Nigeria, South Africa, and the U.S. (ii) Made in Africa, a 360 management solutions company led by Kamal Ajiboye that manages representation for an extensive portfolio of African music heavyweights will helm artists and image development and secure live show and partnership opportunities. (iii) Pushing Good Music (PGM), reputed as one of Nigeria’s premier independent music curation communities led by Douglas Jekan who wears multiple hats as also Head of Music at Beat FM, a conglomerate of multiple radio stations. PGM reputed to have cultivated the Nigerian alternative music scene and offered artists like Odunsi the Engine, Santi, Lady Donli, Amaarae, Johnny Drille, and a long list of new school giants their early push will offer A&R, curation, and radio support services as part of the PopRev core team.
The first round of artist investment opportunities via PopRev will be announced shortly.