Muyiwa Awoniyi, manager of Grammy-winning Nigerian artist Tems, recently highlighted the stark revenue disparity faced by Nigerian musicians on streaming platforms compared to their peers in more developed nations.
Speaking on the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast, Awoniyi emphasized that the geographic location of music streams plays a major role in determining how much artists earn.
He revealed that Nigerian artists make significantly less money per stream than those in countries like Sweden. “Do you know how much a million streams is worth in Nigeria? Just $300. In Sweden, a million streams could earn between $8,000 and $10,000,” he explained.
Awoniyi pointed to several contributing factors, including the relatively low cost of music streaming subscriptions in Nigeria—about ₦900 per month on Spotify—and the broader effects of Nigeria’s weak economy and low consumer purchasing power.
“Most people don’t realize this,” he added. “Spotify calculates earnings based on territory. So if my IP is linked to a region where a million streams pays just $300, I’m at a serious disadvantage.”