Niko Na Safaricom Live… Where is the growth?

In October 2011, the curtains came down on the inaugural leg of the then Safaricom Kenya Live series in a star-studded finale at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.

The event was the culmination of a year-long tour that saw over a dozen local artistes perform before thousands of fans in Bungoma, Mombasa, Kisumu, Machakos, Meru, Eldoret and Nairobi.

This pioneering initiative broke new ground in the entertainment industry, exposing local entertainers to new opportunities while giving their adoring fans the chance to interact with their favourite artistes.

By the time the multi-billion shilling mobile giant unveiled the rebranded second leg of the series in 2012, all players in the industry were eager to see what lay in store.

“Those of us who had participated in the first leg had been promised that we would be involved in subsequent tours but this never materialized,” confides Coastal crooner Ally B who was among the featured artistes in the 2010/11 circuit. “We were slightly disappointed but no less grateful for the opportunity we had been granted. It was a life and career changing experience.”

On Wednesday last week, Safaricom unveiled the new faces of their self-branded gig set to tour the country for the next eight months.

In an elaborate invite-only affair hosted at the Carnivore Grounds, musicians Kidum, Gloria Muliro, Daddy Owen, P-Unit, Octopizzo, comedian Eric Omondi and decksman Dj Kaytrixx were revealed as the next tour ambassadors.

For the seven, this means a lot of things. It means a lot of time will be spent in intense training sessions with experts in the industry. It means crisscrossing the country for concerts and the attendant fatigue. But it also means money in the bank. Lots and lots of money. And acres of publicity and media mileage they would never have imagined possible in their wildest dreams. And most importantly, fame.

But what does it mean for the entertainment industry? Sure, a handful of famous entertainers will become even more famous eight months down the road and reportedly acquire balances that would see them move a considerable number of spots up their banks’ ‘creditworthy list’. And of course Safaricom will sell a modest number of airtime vouchers, to put it modestly. Then what?

In the words of Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore, the objective of the ‘Niko Na Safaricom Live’ tours is to “bring transformation to the local music scene.” Three years since the initiative was rolled out, how ‘transformed’ has the industry become?

To begin with, most artistes on the Niko Na Safaricom Live tour are often either already famous or almost certainly getting there. Thus there isn’t any ‘new talent’ on display per se and where they are featured as guest artistes, the exposure is short-lived with minimal gains for the said acts. How then does this relate with the initiative’s criteria of selecting acts with “relevance in the market and strong growth potential”? Unless emphasis is more on ‘relevance’ and less on ‘potential’.

Additionally, of what value are all the months of training and practice on improving their live performances only for the artistes to revert to their old ways once their engagement with Safaricom is up? The reason behind this could be that the artistes just can’t be bothered. But it could also be that the industry simply lacks the muscle to regularly produce such massive concerts. Which then makes the consistent application of the skills acquired a challenge for the artistes after the Niko Na Safaricom Live circuit and, therefore, somewhat redundant.

In 2012, over 50,000 people turned up for the various Niko Na Safaricom Live concerts around the country. With a ‘Bamba 50’ cover charge, it’s easy to see why Kenyans would flock the venues in their thousands. But how ‘transformative’ is this unresistably appealing offer in a market where music is yet to be recognised as a commodity?

By propagating the ‘free’ consumption of music, how exactly does Niko Na Safaricom Live nurture the barely existing culture of buying or paying for music or concerts when even the push to drive music sales for the signed artistes through mobile downloads is struggling at best?

Granted, for the rural folk, it doesn’t get better than this. While city dwellers rub shoulders with local stars every now and then, Niko Na Safaricom Live remains one of the few platforms for fans in rural towns to interact with their favourite celebs.

And it couldn’t be any less awe-inspiring. But then again, the implication that Eldoret, Kisumu or Mombasa qualify as rural would elicit uproar in certain circles especially when most top local artistes frequent these areas than they do their own homes. Besides, wouldn’t it be grander if the same was replicated deeper into the grassroots like say Lamu or Narok? Unless of course, it is a question of market practicability.

Speaking of markets, despite such huge turnouts, the monetary returns for Safaricom from the concert series are hardly noteworthy. Because for an organization that generates over Sh20 billion in annual revenue, the estimated Sh2.5 million in gross returns (based on the 50,000 attendance levels from the last NNSL edition) is imaginably a drop in the ocean for the Sh20 million investment that went into Niko Na Safaricom Live 2012.

But over and above the one’s and zero’s, the consumer goodwill gained through the brand’s association with the immense collective popularity of the artistes involved is invaluable for a company that has successfully positioned itself as a property by and for the people.But over and above the one’s and zero’s, the consumer goodwill gained through the brand’s association with the immense collective popularity of the artistes involved is invaluable for a company that has successfully positioned itself as a property by and for the people.

The question isn’t whether the Kenyan entertainment industry gains or loses from Niko Na Safaricom Live. Neither is it about what Safaricom stands to profit from their involvement. In this context, both are actually mutually dependent. The question is, where is the growth? With its comparatively endowed budget, massive appeal and virtually unlimited reach, Niko Na Safaricom Live could potentially be a lot more than just a dais for thrilling entertainers. It could also be an credible launching pad for the numerous untapped talents.

It could feed into other aspects of the industry resulting in the long term growth of the entertainment scene. It could even influence behaviour change in our music consumption patterns. Perhaps also open up new spaces and unleash hidden opportunities. Then it would really be “Kenya’s biggest music property”.

Three years, over a dozen concerts and two dozen artistes down the line, there’s little that differentiates 2011 Safaricom Kenya Live from Niko Na Safaricom Live 2013 apart from the crafty marketing title. Yes, the props are more mind-blowing, the pay cheques are fatter and the crowds are bigger. But where is the growth?

@iwittness