After successful events in Dakar, Nairobi & Accra, Tanzania is primed for the next ACCES music conference.
It’s the second time the event will be hosted in East Africa. Tanzania will benefit from the rich collection of African artists and musicians visit the country in November.
The Tanzanian capital will be the fourth African city to host ACCES, after the music business event took place in Dakar, Senegal (2017), Nairobi, Kenya (2018), and Accra, Ghana (2019). This will be the second time that the conference will be held in East Africa.
“After careful consideration and many discussions with our network partners across Africa, we have decided to take ACCES to Tanzania, a truly inspirational country in terms of music and culture,” MIAF director Eddie Hatitye said. “Tanzania is a place where traditional and contemporary music come together to create a colourful music scene that deserves to be celebrated with a truly pan-African platform like ACCES.”
ACCES has stamped its authority as Africa’s leading music trade event. At the 2019 edition in Accra, the conference brought together more than 700 delegates from about 50 countries on the continent and beyond. The conference also hosted 76 showcasing artists from Africa and the diaspora, who got to perform for an influential audience at two top live venues in the Ghanaian capital. The Tanzanian edition will also take place at multiple venues in Dar es Salaam.
Apart from live showcases, the conference features panel discussions, presentations, exhibitions, pitch sessions, Q&A sessions with prominent musicians and visits to key music industry hubs in the host city. Many of these activities will be planned for ACCES 2020, with the ACCES team already exploring a tailor-made programme that will cater for the specific needs of the local music industry.
“Every year we fine-tune our programme in a highly informed manner with the help of local and international partners, so that music professionals can get the best value out of ACCES,” Hatitye said. “The conference is free to attend for African delegates and we urge all Tanzanians who are involved in the music scene to come together to explore new prospects and network with event organisers, record labels, digital distributors and media representatives from countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Germany, France, the UK and the US, to name a few.”
Tanzania at a glance
Tanzania’s music industry has shown noticeable potential over the past few years, with PwC forecasting a total music revenue growth of 8.5% in 2020. PwC expects the Tanzanian entertainment and media sector to reach about $1.4bn in revenue in 2023, compared to half of that number in 2019. The accounting giant also sees strong growth in mobile, which accounts for the bulk of digital music consumption in the country.
Honouring African legends
ACCES 2020 will open on 26 November with the Music In Africa Honorary Award ceremony, which pays tribute to African artists who have made immense contributions to the music and cultural industries in their countries and Africa as a whole. Previous award recipients include Baaba Maal (Senegal, 2017), Eric Wainaina (Kenya, 2018), Ebo Taylor (Ghana, 2019) and Bibie Brew (Ghana, 2019).
