DSCVR

With a broadly talented and dynamic base of people, Africa’s music scene is plainly a growth opportunity. Quite expectedly, this provides the music industry with a platform to grow in acceptance and gain global momentum.

Due to the lucrativeness of the African music industry, it is constantly greeted with new voices, talents, and vibes even with the rise of modern technology as the music industry struggles to leverage the waves of digital innovation in riding high. Despite all of these, there are still uncertainties as to whether or not the African music scene can cater for the myriad of talents that keeps coming in. 

Here’s something to think about - of the millions of talented youths, only a few eventually break through. More often than not, we have a large percentage of unheard music artists. Others who find a silver lining end up losing their original style in an effort to fit in and find a spot for themselves. This implies that blending into the music scene here in Africa requires having thick skin and comfortably wearing as many hats as possible. 

To be honest, new artists in the African Music Industry face a number of challenges; from zero response to music demo, getting an audience, low turn-out during shows, cancelled shows, funding, and a lot more. These upcoming artists put in a lot of work to gain the level of exposure they seek which is mostly short-lived if not rooted in a good working strategy.

What is DSCVR?

DSCVR is a discovery segment on ‘Gbedu for Artists’. The goal is to cater to new and outstanding musical talents across Africa by giving them a platform to be seen, heard, and known. With the input of music influencers such as OAPs, DJs, and the intelligence of Music A&Rs with a wealth of knowledge in music production, marketing, and promotion, the DSCVR segment identifies unique talents. 

It really is absurd that thousands of upcoming acts with loyal followings of about 10,000 to 100,000 are not able to earn from their music because of many reasons. They remain undiscovered and are unable to promote their content because of financial barriers.

Gbedu is on a journey to changing the narrative by creating a platform for the discovery of artists and their music - basically giving a new face to how music is accessed in Africa as a whole. With the DSCVR segment, new African artists will be able to gain visibility, reach new audiences, and hit stardom in due time. 

With the goal of identifying a minimum of 400 rising artists in Nigeria every year, Gbedu partners with a faculty of the topmost A&Rs, music influencers, as well as other credible industry practitioners who host the DSCVR processes and identify these rising stars. 

Joining the Gbedu DSCVR Train

Step 1: Playlist

For the sake of diversity, each influencer has been categorized under a specific genre of music. This means each influencer will be tasked with selecting one winner from their genre category. 

For the playlist stage, a verified playlist is created for the host on Gbedu after which the playlist cover is shared on their social media pages.

Step 2: Pitching

New artists pitch their songs related to different genre playlists on Gbedu, after which they would be evaluated by the influencers/A&Rs. To help songs make it through the pitching stage, artists should ensure that the song uploaded is competitive and can stand a chance against other outstanding songs that will be pitched. 

All songs pitched will not be added automatically to a playlist on Gbedu. Every song pitched will remain in a queue until the host of the genre category accepts them. 

Step 3: Review

At the review stage, the host of each genre category meticulously previews all songs pitched in their category and selects the 20 best songs. These will be added to the playlist where fans can listen to their favorite uploads. 

Step 4: Live Shows

For the Live Shows, each Playlist host engages with all 20 shortlisted artists on a scheduled daily Instagram Live show. Each artist has a maximum of 10 minutes, during which their song is played and they get to talk briefly about it. At the end of each show, the host selects one outstanding song out of the 20 as the winner to be announced after the engagement period.

Post-DSCVR

At the end of these stages, the top 10 songs and artists from each genre category are selected and announced. Winners get an all-expense paid music video, shot and produced by Gbedu and partners. Winning artists also get radio and TV rounds which will ensure that artists are promoted both offline and online. 

As part of the benefits for winners, they get to be a part of Gbedu Sessions - an intimate office concert with fans - and lastly, a special feature on Gbedu’s social media platforms.

DSCVR, which reaches and creates a platform for undiscovered and passionate artists, had an incredibly successful take-off in 2020, reaching over 8000 artists across Africa, leading to a discovery of over 21,000 African songs.

Whilst we anticipated the scale of the problem, we did not imagine just how effective DSCVR would be at reaching and identifying these artists.