JANUARY TO JUNE 2024. OVERALL POOR PERFORMANCE OF THE CAMEROON MUSIC INDUSTRY 

Statistics illustrate that from January 2024 to June 2024, Cameroonian urban music has been below par and underperformed, compared to January 2023-June 2023.

The industry has been a proverbial empty vessel with the loudest noise; beefs, label fights and verbal jabs with less productivity. However, some artists have been focusing on the art, working hard and exploring inventive strategies to stand out. 

The music industry has witnessed an unprecedented decline in investment from the diaspora. Record labels owned by Cameroonians in the diaspora are gradually packing their bags, due to poor Return on Investment , untrustworthiness and irreparable differences with artists. 

The first six months of the year witnessed talent draining; Cameroonian creatives traveling out of the country for greener pastures. 

TikT0k is also having an adverse effect on musicality. Artists have focused on satisfying the audience with short-span entertainment content. The profundity of music is being diluted with the crave for catchy hooks, that will match trendy dance steps. Are we going to see the musical haydays of 2016-2020? 

Cameroon’s A list artists are trailing in terms of music video views, and concert performances, compared to 2023. Generally, there’ve been few major concert in Cameroon from January to June. 

Cysoul has been one of the trending artists, whose song “Mavini” is enjoying an excellent progression. The video has amassed 1.6 million views in 2 months. It was equally a TikT0k trend. 

Sabrina kicked off the year on high note, with a collaboration with Guchi on the song “Bad Boys”. The video is currently at 5 million views.

Sabrina has been one of the most hardworking and consistent female artists from January to June 2024. She dropped an EP titled “Unstoppable”.

Her collaboration with Charlotte Dipanda on the song “Simplicity” is equally making a buzz on TikT0k. 

Asaba came forth with a triple release “Bygone”, “Juice” and “Je Fais comment” ft. Ben Decca 

Mimie has been doing well with her song “Run away”, with 1.5 million views in 4 months. 

 “Pas ta vie” written by Magasco was her follow up video, which has amassed 700,000 views within one month.

“Pour Le Kior” by Frank DS is another trending song, with 1.9 million views. The song received global attention due to Nathan Doualla’s AFCON showmanship. 

2024, is seemingly a year of adventures, especially with the Anglophone artist testing the waters in Afrobeats. 

Kocee made a daring move to conquer a new market. He dropped “Credit Alert” featuring Patoranking and the video is currently at 1.8 million views.

Elisha K has equally made daring movies to collaborate with Liberian artist Jzyno and Nigerian artist Ric Hassani. 

Loic Sumfor dropped “Haram” but discontinued promotion after working with Tikt0kers for a while.  

Raizy signed under Universal dropped “Runner”. The song actually has the potential of a hit song but the promotion was inadequate.

Rinyu who severed ties with Akumba Music is currently trying to regain her poise. She has dropped two singles “Oublie” and “Damaged”. 

Surprisingly, one of the most trending projects from Anglophone Cameroon is Shweng King and Handy Braxton ‘s “Deliver me” challenge. It rapidly became a TikT0k trend. 

In the Francophone regions, the trending songs are “Carlos Baleba” and “Mãrtin Mb@rga Nguelé”, which is unheard of. 

Locko’s “O’bosso”, a sweet-sounding tune is lagging, with 98000 views after 2 weeks.  

Magaco’s “Night and Day” is an earworm, which deserves more streams. The video is currently at 129000 in one month.  

Cameroonians seem to be paying attention to Tikt0k trends, rather than songs with depth. 

Blaise B dropped “Chop money”, with 52,000 views in 1 month.

Jovi dropped “Feeling it” and “Six 4 sharp” , with 52000 views and 40,000 views respectively in 2 months. 

Mr Leo’s “Good Vibes” album is quite absorbing, but yet to gain traction in terms of streaming numbers and promotion. 

R Brown took the industry by storm with “Show me Love” . The video has 116000 views. RBrown has a potential of excelling, if his career gets the necessary funding and a team that can strategically sell him out. 

We’ve witnessed the release of engrossing projects like Gomez Oba’s “Unruly” , Phido’s “Take Care of Yourself Phil, 

Skiezy Ayenkea’s “Da Drill” , which are yet to gain grounds. 

This begs the question; why are Cameroonians not streaming? 

Comparatively, January 2023 to June 2023, was more productive. 

These are some of the songs released within that time frame; Some were massive hits . 

Krys M “Qui croira vera” (27 million views)

 “Wolowos” by Mimie (1.2 million views)

 Gifto’s “Le car qui part” (4.1 million views)

Kocee released “Deux Oeufs Spaghetti” video (16 million views)

Blanche Bailly dropped the video of “OMG” , a collaboration with Nigerian artist Buju. (1.3 million views)

Locko released “Don’t Go” music video(3.8 million views)

Phillbill dropped the video of “Bikossa” featuring Ego & Prido , Styfler (1.1 million views)

Young Holiday took the industry by storm with Backside News series. 

Aloch237 dropped “Kimale” (1.2 M views) 

Asaba and Mr Leo released the video of “Charger” (341000 views) 

Rinyu came through with a project with Tenor dubbed “Dem nova bonam” (2.1 million views)

Salatiel released “Ca Va Aller” and “Closer” featuring Charlotte Dipanda (3 million views in 7 months) 

Blanche Bailly made a great impact with her song “Dieudonne” (6.7 million views)

Mr Leo released the video of his song “Ayele” . 

In June, Libianca released the video of her follow-up single “Jah” (4.7 million views)

Sabrina released “On the low” video (1.6 million views) .

What do you think accounts for the low performance?

#nexdimempire