‘Help Amapiano artists with visas’ – DJ Maphorisa’s plea to Department of Arts and Culture

DJ Maphorisa has pleaded with the Department of Arts and Culture to support Amapiano artists.

The award-winning DJ and producer said while the genre was gaining global recognition, artists were struggling with visa access.

Taking to X, Maphorisa wrote: “Arts and Culture should do something about this. We need [your] support, not just money. We [are] struggling with getting visas, and we spent too much money getting them.

“If [possible] create a system where we can get visas easily because some artists/DJs get declined.”

The Banyana hitmaker said the music genre had gained much international acclaim and was on a growth trajectory representing South Africa positively. As such, he urged the department to support this new industry.

“I love to see people growing. Amapiano artists/DJs are doing more international gigs now, which means we represent Sauta. The flag Must Go High 🇿🇦❤️ Speaking my mind. Arts n Culture please take care of Amapiano Danko 🙏🏿”

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SA artists generated nearly R200 million in revenue on Spotify in 2022 alone

According to Spotify, Amapiano has grown enormously on the platform, reaching more than 1.9 billion streams last year.

The global music streaming platform highlighted that in 2022 alone, South African artists generated nearly R200 million in revenue.

“The genre has grown beyond its home borders, with streams outside of Sub-Saharan Africa growing by more than 563% on Spotify in the last two years.

“The UK, USA, Netherlands, Germany, and Canada are a few of the countries outside Sub-Saharan Africa, listening to Amapiano, and this is the power of music streaming,” Spotify said.

Spotify’s Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, said there has also been a notable increase in royalties from Spotify as the number of SA artists who generated more than R50k and R500k in royalties on the platform increased by more than 30%.

“This figure represents revenue generated from Spotify alone and does not take into account earnings from other services and recorded revenue streams, concert tickets, or merch.” the company said.

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