Bebe Cool: How Streaming Propelled Nigerian Music Past East Africa’s

Ugandan music icon Bebe Cool, a prominent figure in East African entertainment, has weighed in on the evolution of the continent's music industry, particularly addressing why Nigerian Afrobeat has surpassed East African music on the global stage.

During an exclusive interview with Dennis Milimo from Mpasho while promoting his new 16-track album, 'Break The Chains', Bebe Cool shared insights into the challenges and the necessary shifts for East African artists to achieve global recognition.

Bebe Cool, who has been active in music for over 30 years, explained that the East African music scene, once way ahead of so many countries in Africa, has since stuck there and backslid.

He attributed this stagnation to a comfortable "mentality" and "mindset" among artists who are content with only having songs "liked locally". He stressed the imperative to break that mentality and target the globe.

According to Bebe Cool, Nigerian artists have excelled by understanding that music success is now primarily about streams on the global map.

"That's how the Nigerian artists beat the East African artists. Nigerians are showing us the truth. They're not hiding. They're saying, 'Guys, it's Afro beat on the global map now.' Yeah. But it's about streams".

To emulate this success, he stated that East African people need to be educated on the culture of streaming music. He highlighted the importance of teaching audiences in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Congo how simple it is to stream and the significance of streaming East African artists' music.

"Music is all about streaming now. It's no longer about looking for a hit song because you can even have a hit song, but it's not being streamed. What matters is, we have to teach our people of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Randa, South Sudan, Congo, we have to teach them the culture of streaming music,” he said.

 He added, "If you want an artist to blow global, the global big stars are looking out for artists who have big numbers in streaming. For us here, what we need to do is to teach our people how simple it is to stream".

A crucial component of this shift, Bebe Cool asserted, is the need to advocate for cheap internet from our governments across East Africa. This would make internet access affordable for anyone with a smartphone, facilitating wider music streaming. 

He demonstrated the potential impact with his own album, noting that his monthly listeners increased from approximately 40,000 to 180,000 within just 30 days of the album's release.

Bebe Cool believes that a combined East African population of approximately 300 million people, encompassing countries like Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, represents a massive untapped market.

He suggested that if these populations consistently streamed local music with affordable internet, global music figures like Jay-Z and Burna Boy would seek out collaborations with East African artists due to the sheer numbers. This, he argued, would eliminate the need for East African artists to pay large sums for international features.