The Business Behind Afrobeats' World Domination

Afrobeats headlining the O2 Arena in London or filling out Madison Square Garden would have sounded like fantasy a decade ago. Today it's a Tuesday. The genre's global ascent, driven by a combination of diaspora audiences, algorithmic discovery on streaming platforms, and a handful of genuinely generational artists, has become one of the biggest cultural export stories of the past decade. But the business underneath that visible success is considerably messier than the sold-out venues suggest, and understanding it means looking past the headline numbers into royalties, publishing rights, and who actually profits when a song goes global.