Sony Music Africa to Offer Record Deals to Afrochella Contest Winners

Through a new partnership between Sony Music Africa and the companies behind Afrochella Festival, Ghana, unsigned and emerging artists from Africa will soon be able compete for global distribution deals.

Afrochella’s parent company Culture Management Group and audio streaming service Audiomack are teaming up to expand the “Rising Star Stage” competition. This competition previously allowed winners to perform on stage at the festival.

With Sony’s involvement, up to 10 prize winners chosen from a short list of 25 will be signed to distribution deals with Sony Music Africa, which will take their music out to the world, Sony says in a press release.

Sony states that the Grand Prize winner will receive an exclusive recording deal with Sony Music Africa for the publication of a single, marketing support, and free access to Afrochella’s recording studio. He or she also gets mentoring and training from industry executives as well as “leading musicians and producers.” The top winner will have the opportunity to perform at Afrochella.

Five winners, including the Grand Prize winner will be able to perform alongside other headliners on the festival’s second day, December. 29.

Sony states that artists must upload a new song to Audiomack. They also need to create an Instagram Reel with a description about the artist, how they approach music, and what they want their audience to know about their music.

“With the strong backing of Sony Music, we now have the exciting opportunity to make an artist’s dreams come to life by providing them with a distribution deal and sustainable resources to help jumpstart their musical career,” Abdul Karim Abdullah, CEO and co-founder of Afrochella, says in a statement.

The “Rising Star Challenge”, which will take place over two days, is underway. Winners will be announced during the festival. The sixth edition of Afrochella, scheduled for Dec. 28 and 29 in Ghana’s capital Accra, features headliners Burna Boy, StoneBwoy and Fireboy DML.

Last month Coachella Music Festival sued the organizers of Afrochella, saying they infringed on Coachella’s trademarks and had allegedly tried to register the Coachella name in Ghana through the country’s intellectual property office, which was denied. Goldenvoice holds the trademarks for Coachella and the word Chella. This prevents it from being added in to other event titles that could confuse fans.