CAAMA’s International Marketplace hosted close to 1,000 B2B meetings at CMW in 2023 for a Spotlight on Africa which included virtual and physical activities, with panelists streamed in from various locations. CAAMA members also participated in a VIRTUAL B2B curated session following CMW.
Activities included;
SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA PANEL – I LOVE AFROBEATS
Sat., June 10, 2023 from10:00 AM-10:45 AM EST (Piers 2/3)
Afrobeats has been an essential force in unifying various styles of Africa music across all geographical and musical boundaries Can Afrobeats be authentically created locally throughout the diaspora regions? This panel of Afrobeats industry veterans and brand specialists highlighted the influence of social media in the growth of Afrobeats style; the art of Live Performance and its importance in the development of the movement. The conversation concluded with a think-tank analysis on solutions to the challenges faced by the Afrobeats movement in achieving greater exposure, recognition and success. The panel featured six (6) specialists for the Afrobeats genre: MODERATOR Julz Ossom – African Music Week. PANELISTS: Eddie Hatitye – Music in Africa Foundation (Zimbawe); Olive Uche – NJIKO; Peter Toh – Afrofest; Rickie Davies – Promoter (Ghana, UK). TK Three Africans were onsite with the rest being streamed in, in real time to CMW’s Toronto audience.
Curated in collaboration with African Music Week (Canada), Julz Ossom and his team.
SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA – Panel: HOW TO BREAK INTO THE AFRICAN MUSIC MARKET
Unpacking Rights, Distribution & Collaboration Across Border
Sat., June 10, 2023 from 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM (Toronto EDT). (Harbour Ballroom B/C)
The Audience joined the panel of experts to explore the exciting opportunities and challenges of breaking into the African music market. The discussion will focused on the essential elements of success, including understanding the complexities of rights, distribution, and collaboration across borders. With our experienced panelists, Artists, managers and industry professionals learned how to navigate the African music market, build meaningful relationships, and maximize impact on this vibrant and rapidly expanding industry.
The panel featured eleven (11) speakers, of which two were onsite and the rest had to be treamed in due to Canaidan Visa issues with processing times.
Speakers included MODERATOR Amira Guetif (SXM Festival, Fabrika Festival Tunisia, Soundscapes. PANELISTS Brahim El Mazned, Founder – Visa For Music (Morocco); Eloi Mugabe – Content Manager, Paradise Africa Dist.; Audiomack (Rwanda); Jiggs Thorne Founder, Director – MTN Bushfire Festival (Eswatini); Kevin Stuart – Artist Talent Management (South Africa); Lerato Matsoso, Stakeholder Relations Manager – CAPASSO (Composers Authors and Publishers Association NPC) (South Africa); Natasha Stambuli, General Manager – Boomplay (Tanzania); Pfanani Lishivha, CEO – SAMPRA (South Africa); Pule Mokoa, Head of A&R and Marketing – Content Connect Africa & Gallo; Sarah Jane Nicholson – Africa Rising Music Conference; Tumi Mogapi, Vice-Chair of Dev. & Partnerships, Women In Music South Africa & Head of Publishing at Africori Music Group.
Curated n collaboration with Africa Music Rising Conference, Sarah Jane Nicholson and her team.
ONSITE AT THE INTERNATIONAL MARKETPLACE – MEET AFRICA B2B MEETINGS (Walk-Up)
Saturday, June 10, 2023 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM @ Intl. Marketplace
Meetings: 21 between Four (4) Africans and Six (6) Canadians. CAAMA presented a two-hour walk-up session of one-on-one meetings with Africa. This session also served as a magnet to identify participantss who were interested in the curated Post-CMW virtual meetings with Africa.
EXPORT CAFE – Meet the Canadian Trade Commissioners
Thurs. June 8 to Sat. June 10: 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM IMP (Regatta, Lobby Level @ Westin)
CAAMA – in collaboration with Global Affairs – presented an opportunity for Canadian participants to meet TCS’ trade commissioners and present access to the various trade posts around the world. Meetings were hosted by Jeffrey Crossman, Deputy Director (Culture), Global Affairs Canada , Trade Commissioner Service (Canada) and Akuol Luala (She/Her/Elle), Trade Commissionner, Trade Commissionner Services, Government of Canada – who were onsite daily to meet with export-ready Canadian companies and entrepreneurs and meet some of the international buyers in attendance.
CURATED B2B TRADE MEETING SESSIONS
CAAMA produced two pre-arranged sessions B2B MEETINGS WITH INTERNATIONAL MUSIC SUPERVISORS and MEET THE WORLD with new buyers from across the globe, plus buyers onsite in attendance.
MEETING WITH INTERNATIONAL MUSIC SUPERVISORS
Thurs., June 8, 2023 | 1:00 to 3:00 PM @ The Intl. Marketplace (Regatta, Lobby Level @ the Westin)
The IMP curated 225 pre-arranged meetings between 24 Canadians and 15 music supervisors representing intl. clients and brands.
MEET THE WORLD
Fri, June 9, 2023 | 1 – 3 PM EDT @ The Intl. Marketplace (Regatta, Lobby Level @ the Westin)
The IMP curated 210 pre-arranged meetings between 26 Canadians and 18 Intl. buyers
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PANEL: Spotlight on South Asian Music
Sat., June 10, 2023 1:45 AM – 12:30 PM. (Piers 2/3)
In countries worldwide, national artists with Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Afghani and Sri Lankan backgrounds are breaking big – whether it’s Canada’s AP Dhillon (who recently played his first Junos and has 10 milion monthly listeners on Spotify), the artists at the U.K. Dialled In festival, Oscar-winning British rapper Riz Ahmed, or Dutch-Pakistani rapper Imran Khan. Like most pop music “blow ups,” this one has been a long time coming, with a diaspora of 50 million SouthAsians worldwide (2.5 million in Canada), and the ground-breaking previous popularity of genres like bhangra and Sufi rock. This panel looked at the South Asian boom, where it’s going, and what obstacles it could face as it acquires a mass, worldwide audience. The panel featured three (3) speakers: MODERATOR: Kiran Rai, Co-Founder, The Kollective. PANELISTS: Baldeep Randhawa, Talent Buyer / Promoter, Live Nation. Fateh (Thailand)
General B2B meetings
Canadians continued to meet with internaitonals onsigte at the INtl. Marketplce in the aftermath of the larger meeting sessions well into early evening.
The Internatioanl Marketpalce Banner in the lobby of the hotel in front of the entrance to the IMP – became a popular selfie wall.
The CMW Program included a schedule of Intl. Activities available as a hand-out at the Intl. Marketplace .
VIRTUAL MEETINGS WITH AFRICA
The Spotlight was capped by a session of virtual meetings with AFrica for those who could not attend in person this year.
In addition to the hybrid panels on Africa which streamed panelists in due to their not being able to attend in person as a result of Canadian Visa delays – CAAMA organized a substantial virtual B2B meeting session providing Canadians with the opportunity to meet with a greater range of Africans. More than 200 virtual meetings were scheduled between 27 Canadians and 18 Africans during a two hour session on July 5, 2023. The meetings were essential in extending the Spotlight opportunities to Canadians meeting one-on-one with African panelists who were steamed in and other buyers solicited prior to CMW who were not able to attend in person due to Visa issues.
VIRTUAL MEETINGS WITH INDIA
The Indo-Pacific region is a critical trading zone opening up for business with the Canadian music industry, as reported by CAAMa members. CAAMA partnered with The Consulate General of Canada (India) – Special thanks to Grace D’Souza and her team in helping organize a well-curated virtual B2B meeting session with Indian buyers. 300 virtual meetings were scheduled between 32 Canadians and 25 Indians during a two hour session on July 7, 2023. Grace was instrumental in recommending participants on all sides. There were a few last minute issues which forced some re-scheduling, Overall the session was of considerable size with a strong line-up of participants curated by Grace and her team, adding weight to what CAAMA had undertaken prior to CMW when putting this initiative in motion.
SUMMARY
Between all packages, CAAMA organized 936 B2B meetings with 96 unique international hosts and 64 unique Canadians. The IMP team also facilitated introductions for other biz meetings on a walk-up request basis, outside the pre-arranged sessions, and continues to make email introductions as objectives continue to evolve and deepen. Two CAAMA members had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. Although their meetings were reassigned, the International Marketplace team continues to set up additional meetings and follow-up to patch in connections where meetings were lost.
Meeting hosts were solicited from the targeted countries as available, including Africa including: Ghana, Eswatini, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zimbabwe), Germany, Poland, South East Asia, Australia, Japan, Bulgaria, UK, USA. Note the top music supervisors are based in the USA.
To date, participants have reported from $CAD 3M to 4M in potential or actual revenue generated as a result of the activities, which is on par with 2021.