Music career and sustainability: the strategies of a hiplife musician

ABSTRACT

Despite the challenges musicians face in different music cultures, the question of how musicians sustain their careers is often not highlighted in music and sustainability studies. This article focuses on the strategies adopted by Okyeame Kwame (OK), one of the pioneers of hiplife music, to sustain his career in the Ghanaian music industry. From an ecology of music viewpoint and twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana, this article explores the factors influencing hiplife and musicians within the Ghanaian music industry to enable music career sustenance. This article argues that sustainable music careers are linked to and necessary for the sustainability of music cultures. It also contributes to the ongoing discourse on music and sustainability, particularly about music careers. Overall, the article offers lessons to help musicians and ethnomusicologists explore career sustainability strategies in various contexts and work towards a theory and practice of music career sustainability.

KEYWORDS:

• Music sustainability
• Music career
• Okyeame Kwame
• Ghana
• Hiplife
• Music industry

                 Persons sustain music, and music sustains people.

(Titon 2009, 123)

The socio-economic challenges that musicians encounter in various music cultures are widely recognised. However, the crucial inquiry of how musicians sustain their careers is often overlooked in music and sustainability. According to Martin Stokes, one of the reasons may be researchers’ sense of guilt about musicians’ struggles and poor living conditions, which researchers leave behind after their research (2002). For Grant (2016), a moral question arises for NGOs, government cultural agencies and others concerned with cultural sustainability (I include ethnomusicologists): is it fair to encourage young people to devote their lives to trying to make a living as musicians (320)? A sustainable music career is highly challenging, which the Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated. As ethnomusicologists, we are well-positioned to see musicians’ challenges because we often work closely with them. Supporting the musicians we work with equals helping the music we study to thrive.

In this article, I argue that sustainable music careers are linked and crucial to creating sustainable music cultures. Framed within the concept of music sustainability, I identify and analyse the strategies that Okyeame Kwame (henceforth OK), one of the pioneers of hiplife music, has adopted to overcome the socio-economic challenges in the Ghanaian popular music industry. Moreso, since ‘music does not exist in a vacuum: music and context are mutually informing and dynamic’ (Cannon 2013, 110), I approach the Ghanaian music industry as an ecology to explore the system or forces that impact the sustainability of hiplife and OK. Ultimately, I reveal that OK’s strategies—resilience, diversification, revitalisation, and interconnection—have enabled him to achieve a sustainable career and the sustenance of hiplife music.

Hiplife is a Ghanaian popular music genre that combines hip-hop with other Ghanaian music styles like highlife; it came about during the early 1990s when Ghanaian musicians began rapping in local Ghanaian languages like Twi and Ga over hip-hop beats (Collins 2018). Most pioneers of hiplife have abnegated music as a profession to become, for example, politicians and preachers. King Poppa and Zaggy, two first generation of hiplife musicians, revealed that they left music as a profession because it was not lucrative.¹ OK is one of the few pioneers actively creating and performing hiplife.

Born Kwame Nsiah Appau, OK has been a professional musician since 1993 when he met Daniel Kofi Amoateng in Kumasi and formed the group Akyeame.² Subsequently, Kwame Nsiah Appau became known as Okyeame Kwame and Daniel Kofi Amoateng as Okyeame Quophi. As a duo, Akyeame became one of the pioneers of hiplife music. They won several awards, performed internationally, and made four albums (see Figure 1). After a decade, the group broke up due to individual differences. OK became a solo musician and continues to make music, a feat only a few have been able to achieve in the Ghanaian music industry.

Figure 1. Akyeame: album cover for Nyansapɔ (source: discogs.com).

By focusing on OK’s music career in this article, I provide an insight into the socio-economic challenges that threaten hiplife musicians within the Ghanaian music industry, and correspondingly, I foreground some possible solutions to enable music career sustenance. I aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse on music and sustainability, specifically focusing on the sustenance of a musician’s career rather than on a particular music tradition. The goal is to highlight the importance of sustainable music careers in sustaining music cultures.

This approach offers lessons to help musicians and ethnomusicologists explore career sustainability strategies in various contexts and work toward a theory and practice of music career sustainability. Music and sustainability approaches must begin from the ground, from the people closely engaged with the music and those whose livelihood depends on it. This small-scale study leads to more significant and productive avenues for music and sustainability.

Ethnomusicology, music sustainability and musicians

‘Sustainability is the most appropriate term for the increasing human concern in tropes of change, continuity, and survival’ (Schippers 2015, 137). In ethnomusicology, sustainability is usually approached as a goal in two modes: sustaining music cultures and ways music contributes to ecological sustainability (ecomusicology).³ In that regard, although it is impossible to sustain a music culture or use music as a tool to protect the natural environment without musicians, much of the recent ethnomusicological literature on music and sustainability is not focused on how musicians navigate the challenges that influence the viability of their careers. In short, sustaining music careers is not often the goal of ethnomusicologists. Indeed, a few scholars who have examined the relationship between the sustainability of endangered music and the concerns of musicians alludes to the relevance of musicians to musical sustainability goals (Agyefi 2022; Cannon 2013; Grant 2016; Schippers and Grant 2016). When a musician is considered, however, often the discussion is on how they contribute to the sustainability of certain music cultures.

The rationale for not focusing solely on musicians perhaps dwells on the availability of other factors that work together to influence the sustainability of music. Grant (2016) examines the relationship between the sustainability of endangered traditional music genres and the socio-economic concerns of young musicians in Cambodia. As in many other music cultures, the young Cambodian musicians’ impetus for acquiring musical skills is the possibility of converting their musical skills into an economic value (ibid). These musicians’ socio-economic challenges are reflected, however, in the moribund traditional music genres they perform. Grant reveals that socio-economic circumstances are a significant barrier to musicians’ greater involvement with traditional music. However, Grant concludes that

it is only fair to say that music sustainability closely intersects with socio-economic concerns, and each can affect the other. But drawing a direct link between the two [music sustainability and socio-economic concerns] is too simplistic due to the myriad and complex factors affecting each. (2016, 320)

Moreso, Schippers and Grant (2016) caution that there are no simple solutions to influencing the sustainability of specific music cultures. As such, music cultures are to be approached as an ecosystem (Titon 2009). ‘The key in this approach lies in not excluding any factors from the ecosystem but to work from a comprehensive picture of forces impacting on sustainability’ (Schippers and Grant 2016, 10). Thus, Schippers and Grant propose a framework of five domains—systems of learning music, musicians and communities, contexts and constructs, regulations and infrastructure, and media and the music industry—that can act as a tool to assist in making better sense of the playing field, and the mechanics of music vitality and viability.

Schippers and Grant advise that the five domains be considered as an interconnected ecosystem with blurred boundaries and mutual influence. For instance, changes in a music culture can happen due to a mix of shifting values and attitudes, advancements in technology, and/or community behaviour. Moreso, how music is created and shared is usually shaped by its environment, publicity, markets, and listeners are often associated with issues of public perception and status. All of these, thus, can affect a music culture’s sustainability. Therefore, Schippers and Grant’s framework is a very effective tool for understanding the factors that affect music cultures and attaining sustainable music. I adopt and build on this framework.

My interest, however, is in the ‘musicians and communities’ domain. The aim is not to isolate this domain from the others but to highlight musicians who are stewards of music cultures and how their activities influence the vitality of music cultures. I suggest that musicians play fundamental roles in all five domains and are, in turn, affected by the other domains. Moreso, the domain about musicians and their communities is not concerned with how musicians survive in their communities but how musicians contribute to sustaining music cultures. Musicians deserve the same attention that music and sustainability scholars give to music cultures. As sustainability is one of the leading goals of advocacy in ethnomusicology, including the sustainability concerns of musicians is equally essential. Focusing on the musician, thus, considers all the other factors that affect the sustainability of music cultures.

According to Titon (2015b), long before the term ‘sustainability’ became common in ethnomusicological discourse in the early 2000s, efforts at sustainability were directed at individual musicians. He states that

although most ethnomusicologists believed that folk traditions were endangered and would diminish and eventually disappear, [they realised] it might be possible to help outstanding musicians revive and maintain their careers, by bringing their music to a different audience, … to the attention of a wider public, thereby stimulating them to maintain their musical skills and repertoires. (Titon 2015b, 173)

This article is motivated by Titon’s argument that, ‘efforts to sustain music are best directed at, and regarded as, sustaining selected socio-cultural activities that encourage music’s production and maintenance. In short, sustaining music means sustaining people making music’ (Titon 2009, 123, emphasis added). Musicians are key actors in the sustainability and vitality of music. Hence, ethnomusicologists must think critically about who or with whom we are sustaining music.

As such, this paper, written from the perspective of an applied ethnomusicologist, aims to support the musicians with whom he studies and works. Ethnomusicologists, perhaps, must advocate for specific music makers or communities we work with. As Pettan and Titon have stated, ‘advocacy usually stems from nurtured relationships: when an ethnomusicologist is attracted to a particular musician or music cultures, visits them for research purposes, and returns and determines to make a commitment that goes beyond mere study’ (2015, 12).

This paper is a call to ethnomusicologists to act as music stewards whose responsibility is not only to care for music tradition and musical resources but for musicians, too. Adopting the concept of sustainability is an excellent starting point, particularly since ‘literature on music and sustainability has flourished most in the field of ethnomusicology’ (Yamada 2017, 375). Besides, early involvement in sustainability by ethnomusicologists was primarily driven by their commitment to individuals and communities involved in music (Titon 2015b).

An ecological perspective on popular music(ians) in Ghana

To gain a comprehensive understanding of hiplife and the sustainability of its musicians’ careers, like OK, it is important to identify seemingly irrelevant factors that affect both—music and musicians. Schippers and Grant (2016) theorise that there is a need to explore the ecology of music culture in order to gain a greater understanding of music sustainability and its mechanics. In other words, music sustainability has a great connection with the environment in which it is observed; hence to appreciate the factors that influence musicians’ sustainability, there is the need to identify the environment they inhabit.

William K. Archer’s ‘On the Ecology of Music’ (1964, 28–29) is possibly the first instance in which music is framed within the context of ecology. Archer argues that it is justified to subject music to an ecological approach because a mobile, fluid, dynamic inter-relationship exists between music and other social aspects—sometimes transparent, sometimes not. He continues that ‘the most intimate and rewarding understanding of music may come from recognising seemingly irrelevant social, ethnic and economic dynamics which affect it’ (28). Arguing along the same lines, Titon notes that musical ecology

includes both physical and cultural factors of the musical environment such as ideas about music, sound and sound-producing instruments, recording studios, media, venues, musical education and transmission, and the economics of music—music as cultural production and a cultural domain—which relate to the health of musical individuals, populations, and communities. (2009, 123)

An ecological approach to music, therefore, offers a comprehensive framework to explore the interplay between physical and cultural factors of the musical environment. Music ecology emphasises the importance of understanding the complex web of relationships and interactions between these factors and how they contribute to the well-being of musical individuals and communities. By examining the various components of the musical environment, we can identify and address the challenges and opportunities that arise in the music industry and work towards creating a more sustainable and equitable musical ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders.

I approach the Ghanaian popular music industry as an ecology to explore the system or forces that impact the sustainability of hiplife and musicians’ careers. To better investigate OK’s career sustainability, it is imperative to understand the factors that affect him and, therefore, the other popular musician within the environment in which he operates. I situate OK within the Ghanaian music industry—which keeps changing—to provide a clearer picture of his sustainability strategies and to enable a proper evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of his strategies; hence making the study of broader use and applicability.

Although ‘community’ is notoriously ‘difficult to define in the context of music-making, when considered broadly, community engagement is arguably at the core of music sustainability’ (Schippers and Grant 2016, 335). Musicians operate within a community; hence their chance of holding music as a sustainable career depends on the community’s support. Through twelve months of ethnographic research in Accra and Kumasi (two major cities in Ghana) and my position as a Ghanaian musician, I identify three overarching factors that interconnectedly impede music careers in the contemporary Ghanaian community, focusing on popular musicians.⁴ First is the social disregard for music-making as a reputable profession. Second is the challenge of exchanging musical labour for economic value. And third is the lack of institutional support for musicians.

Popular musicians and the Ghanaian community

In Ghana, popular music developed around the late nineteenth century and today boasts of styles like highlife, reggae/dancehall, gospel and germane to this study, hiplife (Collins 2004b, 4). Popular music permeates several activities and is integral to the everyday life of Ghanaians. This high regard, however, is not always reflected in the livelihood of musicians due to the paradoxical socio-cultural norms that simultaneously hold music in high regard, on the one hand, and view musicians as people with a dead-end occupation, on the other. Such social gaze hampers music careers. Merriam (1964) confirms that the view of community members determines musicians’ role and status. He argues that the deviant behaviours of musicians result in this pattern of high importance and low status. However, for Merriam, despite the ubiquity of deviant behaviour among musicians, it cannot be said to characterise musicians in all societies, so encourages further research to disclose its actual geographic extent, as well as its social significance (140).

Indeed, the situation is true in Ghana. Historically, because of their regular performances in palmwine bars, Ghanaian popular musicians were associated with excessive alcohol consumption and debauchery.⁵ The ethnomusicologist John Collins explains that in the 1920s, young men who played the guitar were regarded as ‘ruffians, womanisers, and flirts, who lived outside the moral standards of traditional Ghanaian communities’ (Personal communication, 5 November 2018). Moreover, popular music in Ghana was said to cause a rise in immoral behaviours among youth. Popular music performances allowed young men and women to consume alcohol, smoke cigarettes, mix freely with each other, identify prospective partners, and initiate romantic relationships (Plageman 2012, 53).

Such conducts were and are still considered inappropriate and unaligned with the traditional values of many Ghanaian traditional settings (ibid.). Parents discourage their children from becoming musicians since music cannot provide the income required to support a family. Such disregard for music as a profession also influences how musicians are compensated for their musical labour.

Contesting the value of musical labour

The shift to a neoliberal market system in the early-1990s in Ghana resulted in changes in the value of musical labour. The free-market economy justified the commodification of music. However, for non-professional musicians, musical labour must exist mainly as a social value. Mandela, a former vocalist for the Legends Band in Accra, explained to me how his band folded up:

Despite our efforts to bargain for higher payment, our customers did not agree that we deserve the amount we were demanding. For them, we should be making music for free–only for pleasure or as a hobby. So, although we were playing gigs, at least once every week, the pay was not good enough to sustain the band. There was no money to replace damaged instruments, and the musicians were also complaining and started quitting the band, and eventually, the band collapsed. (Interview, 14 October 2018)

The resistance to the capitalistic ideology of musical labour, i.e. the commodification of musical labour for individual profit, presents severe career challenges to musicians in Ghana. The situation is unsurprising because although capitalism is known to become the hegemonic economic system wherever it enters, it does not attain a totality (Taylor 2016). After all, other economic forms exist, resulting in a constant contestation between capitalism and the existing economic logic.⁶ Moreso, since there are different ‘regimes of value’(Appadurai 1986), musical labour ‘can be valued by different social groups in different ways, in different times and places’ (Taylor 2016, 11). For example, in most Ghanaian churches, musical labour has religious value. It is considered a gift to God, so there is constant resistance to musicians expecting economic value for their musical labour in such contexts—where many Ghanaian musicians find themselves (see Collins 2004a, 2012).

Institutional support?

The existence of institutions and organisations within the Ghanaian music industry does not guarantee support for musicians. The Ghanaian music industry comprises professional associations and organisations that play an essential role in the industry’s operations. These bodies have diverse interests and objectives, which include seeking the welfare of their members and the entire music industry. The leading music institutions in Ghana are the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) and the Ghana Music Right Organization (GHAMRO).⁷ MUSIGA aims to promote and preserve Ghanaian culture by educating and equipping Ghanaian musicians with the tools to be self-reliant, creative, and industrious. GHAMRO is presently the only music-related copyright entity in the country. Its principal purpose is to identify and document users of music copyright works and subsequently license, collect, and distribute royalties on behalf of its members.

Conversely, musicians in the music industry are, for the most part, not satisfied with institutional and organisational support. OK is a member of MUSIGA and GHAMRO, but he opines that both institutions have not contributed much to his music career. In his opinion, ‘MUSIGA is supposed to connect with other music unions worldwide, learn from them, share ideas and cultural experience, but they don’t, hence [MUSIGA] has no direct impact on the industry or his career’ (Interview, 15 August 2019). Other musicians I interacted with share similar views and deny benefiting from the associations to which they belong. For GHAMRO, OK expressed his lack of interest because he had not received royalties from them for the past five years. He asserted that Ghanaian musicians should be able to earn some royalties from their creations because of the myriad of radio and television stations present in the country. The situation, thus, rules out institutional support for most Ghanaian musicians working in Ghana.

These highlighted socio-economic conditions hinder the sustainability of music careers in the Ghanaian music industry. Musicians must find ways to keep making music or give up the profession. Surviving as a top-tier musician over a sustained period is never a simple matter, not even in thriving musical environments (Zhen and Krueger 2022). The need for adapting strategies becomes even more significant in a context as challenged and economically diminished as the Ghanaian music industry. In what follows, I analyse the strategies OK has used to maintain his music career, earning him the nickname Mr Versatile.

Mr Versatile: OK’s music career strategies

In this section, I adopt and adapt sustainability strategies. I use resilience, music revitalisation, interconnection, and diversification as analytical frameworks to examine OK’s ability to develop, maintain, and sustain his musical career.⁸ First, I focus on resilience, diversification, and musical revitalisation to examine OK’s strategies for transitioning from being a band member to a solo music career. All three strategies share certain similarities. For resilience and revitalisation, both concepts recognise instability, vulnerability, and the need for strength to overcome. While resilience presents an all-encompassing way to sustainability, revitalisation and diversification provide specific and new ways to attain viability and continuity. Next, I espouse the ecological approach to interconnectivity to explore OK’s affiliation with other musicians and how he engages his fandom. Together, these strategies offer a comprehensive approach to understanding OK’s career sustainability strategies.

Resilience: from Akyeame to Okyeame

In Titon’s assessment, ‘one of the difficulties with sustainability and its related ideas is that they are ends, not means; they are goals, not strategies’ (2016, 158). Thus, among ethnomusicologists, resilience offers perhaps one of the most effective strategies towards musical sustainability goals. I adopt Titon’s conceptualisation of resilience to understand some of the strategies OK has adopted to succeed in the Ghanaian music industry. Titon defines resilience as the capacity to recover and maintain an identity and continuity when subjected to forces of disturbance and change (2015a, 2).

In this sense, resilience becomes an overarching strategy OK adopts to sustain his music career. This is primarily evident in his negotiation and the transformation from being a member of a music group to becoming a solo musician. After his band, Akyeame, broke up, OK struggled as a professional musician. He describes this moment as the crucial point where he could have easily given up on his music career. Indeed, the Ghanaian music industry has several musicians who were unable to have sustainable solo careers after breaking from their groups. Examples include groups like Praye and Wutah, whose individual members tried going solo but were unsuccessful. OK’s ability to sustain a solo music career after breaking from his partner is an example of a positive resilience which Titon proposes: the desirable and positive outcome of resilience.⁹

Moreover, Titon (2015b) theorises that resilience entails identifying vulnerabilities due to regime shifts and strengths, then ameliorating the former and strengthening the latter. This conceptualisation is akin to what Shalini Ayyagari calls ‘psychological resilience’ (2022, 12), a type of resilience which means leaving a previous state behind, leading to a liminal state of uncertainty and vulnerability. In these moments, people can feel lost, but they also have the capacity to make changes and grow. Resilience is about acknowledging loss and trauma and finding a way to move forward that allows personal growth and transformation.

After Akyeame broke up, OK identified his vulnerabilities as writing music in Akan (the native language he often uses in writing music), knowledge in the music business, and administrative work. His former partner, Okyeame Quophi, used to do all these while OK focused on performances. To build resilience, OK explored ways to overcome these limitations by attaining higher education. After the split, he enrolled in the university to attain a bachelor’s degree (Music and Akan) to address his deficiency in songwriting. This formal education improved OK’s music-writing skills. He now writes songs and has received many awards for his writing skills. For a musician in the current capitalist global music industry, the relevance of awards cannot be overstated—it presents social, cultural, and economic capital for musicians. Moreover, as a solo musician, his master’s degree in Strategic Marketing from the University of Ghana enabled him to overturn the other significant weakness—the business and administrative aspect of his music career, which includes charging for performances and getting business deals beyond his music.

OK’s geographical location presented yet another vulnerability to his music career after the split. But as Ayyagari argues, ‘it is in a vulnerable state that people have the capacity to make changes and accept them’ (2022, 12). A significant change after Akyeame was when OK moved from Kumasi to Accra (the capital city of Ghana), where most active musicians reside because of the concentrated music industry activities. As aforementioned, an ecological approach to music sustainability emphasises the working environment of every cultural ecosystem. Hence, moving to Accra—a new and different space—was initially uncomfortable and uneasy for OK. Later, he adjusted, and today, he continues to benefit socially and commercially. In Accra, he has expanded his social networks and connected with influential individuals within and beyond the Ghanaian music industry. Such connections include a network of international radio stations, DJs, bloggers, and politicians who support him by promoting and distributing his music. OK’s relocation to Accra has been advantageous for his longevity in the music industry.

The concept of resilience is evident in every facet of OK’s music career, including his music. An example is his song, ‘Woso’, which translates to ‘shake-off’. ‘The song represents my view on resilience’, he explains (Interview, 6 December 2019).‘The song encourages listeners to “shake” their troubles and hardships “off” and keep striving’. He believes that resilience is a key trait everyone should develop because it helps to overcome obstacles and allows growth. OK’s music is a testament to this idea, as he continues to create uplifting and inspiring songs that help people build resilience and overcome adversity. ‘There is an aesthetic pleasure in stories of resilience and overcoming. Narratives of resilience inspire people to find their own inner strength and develop capacities for survival’ (Ayyagari 2022, 8).

A mark of a resilient person is the ability to continue to perform their core functions despite disturbance (Titon 2015a). OK’s unequivocal resilience is portrayed in how he recovered and maintained his identity by not switching to another career. He retained the name and, more importantly, continued making hiplife music despite the changes and challenges he encountered after the split. He said quitting music would have been him denying himself of his true identity, thus an impetus for his resilience. To be resilient as a musician, one must be conscious of and able to identify what creates vulnerability or threatens one’s career and act accordingly.

Diversification: music for music’s sake and music for life’s sake

According to Titon (2015b), another strategy for sustainability, similar to resilience, is diversification. For him, diversification is proverbial; most languages contain wise old sayings such as ‘Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket’ (181). OK believes that, as a musician in Ghana, there is a need to have a secondary source of income which should be a by-product of being a musician. Hiplife music thrives in an environment where music is commoditised and exchanged for economic value. In the words of Jesse Shipley, ‘Hiplife imagines freedom in the language of the entrepreneur’ (2009, 660). Thus, OK understands that he needs financial resources to survive, and often those resources are found outside of music. During our initial meeting, my first question to OK was, ‘Do you think it is possible to build a sustainable career as a musician in Ghana?’ His response was, ‘Totally! Yes, it is possible but challenging because you cannot rely only on performance and selling music’ (Interview, 17 May 2018). Thus, he uses the music to become famous and then builds on the popularity to create another business to earn money. He explained that ‘the music itself is not valuable, but the secondary economy of being a musician is valuable’.

The first lesson that ecology teaches is the adaptive advantage of diversity. ‘In the competition for resources, the more diverse the organisms, populations, and communities, the higher the chances of survival in, and of, the ecosystem’ (Titon 2009, 123). OK’s diversification is evident in his other projects besides music-making and performances. These include One Mic Entertainment, OK’s company which manages other artists, organises events, and creates television adverts for brands like Coca-Cola Ghana and MTN Ghana. He recently launched a haircare collection, Sante’s Hair, named after his daughter. Sante’s Hair sells different types of women’s hair and wigs. In addition, OK and his wife, Annica, are considered one of Ghana’s best celebrity couples. He has leveraged their celebrity status by creating an annual event for couples dubbed ‘Flaunt Your Lover’. This event has been organised in February for the past four years, and OK gains economically from it. For a sustainable music career in the Ghanaian music industry, financial stability is critical because the industry is economically demanding and presents stiff competition from other musicians. Diversifying, therefore, becomes an ideal strategy for a sustainable music career.

My encounter with H.A., a senior musician, at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra (on 18 December 2018) corroborated the effectiveness of diversification as a strategy for musicians in Ghana. H.A. has been an active musician since 1980, but an advanced age has limited his regular performance. H.A. could not attend prior rehearsals due to health issues but was present for the event. I enquired why he still wanted to perform. He replied that performing his songs is his primary source of income, so he performs out of necessity. H.A.’s inability to have invested his previously attained social and cultural capital from music into other avenues, which would have generated economic gains, is arguably a reason for his sole reliance on performances for income.

Conversely, OK states that his strategy is to create good music and content and then dwell on the love and response from the fans to sell a diversified product. However, OK’s diversification does not end with his businesses. He also uses his brand to establish endorsement deals with other companies. His image is used to create a market for the companies. These deals create an audience for his music as well. For instance, OK has served as the brand ambassador for MTN (a telecommunication network) for over five years. During the partnership, he headlined all of MTN’s musical concerts and used their presence throughout Africa to disseminate his music beyond Ghana. Succinctly, OK is constantly mobilising and converting his social, cultural, and economic capital (Bourdieu 1986) to sustain his music career.

Undeniably, concerns have been raised about linking musical sustainability with monetary rationality because it potentially impedes sustainability (Titon 2021). However, musical and cultural futures are extremely dependent on and affected by disturbances and changes in economic circumstances, especially capitalistic conditions. Hence, not paying attention to (musicians’) economic sustainability can equally lead to the unsustainability of music.

Although OK sees the need for financial stability, he claims money is not the primary motive for making music. He sees the need for a balance, as clearly presented by Lewis Hyde, ‘Art exists simultaneously in two “economies”, a market economy and a gift economy’ (2009, 12). OK understands the need to balance creating music for money and for itself. He says, ‘If money exclusively motivates you to make music, it becomes inauthentic; you have defeated the purpose of music because creating music to earn only money limits creativity’ (Interview, 17 October 2019). Although OK creates music for music’s sake, he keeps an eye on the commercial aspect and has admittedly created certain songs to serve a commercial purpose. His core creative principle is the ‘quality’ of his music. OK practices ‘cerebral hygiene’ (cleaning out his mind of unused or unwanted data saved) to create music without external motivation. During this process, OK purges himself from any information relating to music. Instead, through meditation, OK creates music free from monetary influences, ‘an accurate representation of myself’, he says (ibid). Such songs include those that display his love for poetry and family issues. He typically uses little instrumentation in this strain of music to allow the song's lyrics to stand out. An example is the abovementioned ‘Woso’. For commercial purposes, OK has also created songs like ‘Mobile Money’, about a girl asking a guy for money to prove his love. The motive for such songs is to fetch him more airplay, downloads, ticket sales and fans.

Revitalisation: ‘I Am Made In Ghana’

A vital strategy in music and sustainability discourse is revitalisation. Music revitalisation primarily begins with an individual’s belief and conviction to intervene in halting the near extinction of their music tradition (Levine 1993). Revitalisation explicitly reveals the relevance of musicians to musical sustainability goals. An example from an applied ethnomusicological perspective is Sunu Doe (2020), who adopts revitalisation to make Ghanaian Palmwine music a sustainable tradition in the contemporary Ghanaian context. Sunu Doe has established the Legon Palmwine Band as part of his action-based methodology, emphasising younger musicians in a music tradition that previously only included one active performer, the nonagenarian Koo Nimo. One of the major reasons music traditions wane, in the words of Bendrups et al. (2013), ‘includes the realities of losing senior members of communities and with them, the loss of song cultures, a lack of interest from younger generations’ (155).

I follow Victoria Levine, who explains that ‘revitalisation offers an opportunity for music traditions near extinction to be reshaped, reinterpreted and redefined towards cultural survival’ (1993, 392). I extend Levine’s definition to include musicians. Revitalisation in this study signifies how OK renewed and reinvented his music career when his popularity was waning after he released his last album, Mr Versatile, in 2012. During research for this article, OK had not released any music project; thus, his presence in the industry was low. He says, ‘I am at a point in my career where I need to reinvent myself by releasing new content’ (Interview, 4 August 2018). His most crucial revival tool was the release of a new album, the most recent of which is Made in Ghana in 2019 (see Figure 2). This album focuses on creating global awareness of Ghanaian culture. The songs and artists featured on the album represent the ten regions of Ghana and their varied music cultures, instilling a consciousness of national pride and promotion of tourism.

Figure 2. Okyeame Kwame: Made In Ghana album promo photos (courtesy Kwame Nsiah Appau).

The Made in Ghana album helped revive OK’s career and received many accolades and recognition. For instance, Abeiku Santana, one of the leading radio broadcasters and a tourism advocate, attended the album listening session on 17 September 2018 at the Roots Apartment Hotel in Accra and highlighted the album’s significance to tourism in Ghana. Abeiku Santana stated, ‘Let us commend OK for celebrating the pride of Ghana by bringing cultures of the regions in one album.’ Also, this album landed OK the made-in-Ghana ambassador role for The Ministry of Trade and Industry. A song from the album became the official song for the ministry’s made-in-Ghana campaign. The song Made in Ghana received much airplay upon its release and was number one on Live FM’s Top 10 chart for over two months. The album generated social media interest and radio interactions, earning him a nomination for the 2019 Vodafone Music Awards. These forms of recognition, media presence, awards, and endorsements attest to how OK’s new album fuelled his musical revitalisation.

OK’s music career has concurrently contributed to the revitalisation of hiplife. I derive from Tamara Livingston’s (1999) definition of music revitalisation as social movements by an individual or small group of ‘core revivalists’ that aim to preserve musical traditions believed to be disappearing or relegated to the past. These movements present solutions to improve the existing culture. Prior to his Made in Ghana album, the following was a common concern in the Ghanaian public discourse: hiplife is dying due to the intrusion and dominance of other foreign music styles. In response, OK collaborated with other hiplife musicians, Obour and Richie, to release a song titled ‘Killing the Game’. The song’s refrain, sung by Richie, summarises the message: ‘We’ve been searching for the answer, cos we wanna leave a happy ever after, we shall open a new chapter, so we can write the story again, cos we are killing the game’. In their rap, OK and Obour, through call and response, ask questions and provide answers to why hiplife was dying. Among many other things, the musicians highlighted the lack of support from the Ghana government, payola (paying bribes for airplay) and DJ’s constant play of foreign music at the expense of Ghanaian hiplife music. ‘Killing the Game’ was a hit and a wake-up call to hiplife musicians and other stakeholders, which resulted in changes in the Ghanaian music industry. Notable was the ‘70-30 policy’—radio and television stations’ decision to play 70% Ghanaian music and 30% foreign music. Thus, OK’s tune, which featured other musicians, helped revitalise hiplife.

Furthermore, in line with music(ians) and environmental sustainability, and shortly after completing his Made in Ghana album, OK was appointed as a climate change ambassador for Ghana’s Dedicated Grant Mechanism project by Solidaridad in 2019. OK’s popularity is used to educate the public about environmental degradation, which is rampant in Ghana. OK’s role in environmental sustainability helps make the case that the sustainability of a music career goes beyond just the sustainability of a musical culture but contributes to efforts of deploying music to sustain the environment. The connection between music career and sustainability is reflected and corroborated in the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) ideas on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Ghanaian context: ‘All 17 SDGs are interconnected, meaning success in one affects success in others’ (Date-Bah 2021,7, emphasis added). The sustainability of OK’s career (SDG 8-sustained decent work and economic growth) has led to his role in environmental sustainability (SDGs 12 and 13).

Interconnectivity: of other musicians and fandom

The final strategy is interconnectivity. Scholars argue for ecological adaptability in music sustainability discourse because surviving in an ecosystem requires interconnectivity among organisms (Schippers and Grant 2016; Titon 2009). Therefore, interconnection becomes fundamental for survival in the Ghanaian music industry. Musicians must nurture a good relationship with their fans and colleagues, which is attainable by collaborating on music and other projects.

Collaborating with other musicians

To have a sustainable career in the Ghanaian music industry without considering, relating, and working with other musicians is unattainable. McKenzie et al. (2021), in their work on creative production methods in the music industry, recognise the rise of collaboration among musicians on individual song projects. They revealed that ‘high quality music and an increase in market demand—gained from the fan base of both musicians’, are some of the benefits musicians gain from collaborating in the modern music industry (McKenzie et al. 2021,407). In his quest for a sustainable music career, OK does not create all his music alone, but he sometimes collaborates with other artists in the music industry.

A peculiar approach OK adopts in his collaborative works is whom he chooses to work with at particular times. He worked with relevant musicians to gain visibility as he started his solo career. He started by working with popular artists like Samini and Castro when he moved to Accra. Today, he collaborates mostly with young and talented musicians like Kidi, Kwame Eugene, and Mz Vee. He believes these young musicians bring newer styles to hiplife, and they yearn for success. OK also collaborates with musicians outside the Ghanaian music industry, such as Jay Ghartey (UK), Olumaintain (Nigeria), and Bennie Man (Jamaica), to promote his music beyond Ghana.

Fandom: OK World

In Ghana, like other music industries, the current popular music fans do more than listen to music (Click et al. 2013; Morris 2014; Sugihartati 2020). They sing along and create versions of their favourite songs; some want to learn about every detail of their favourite musician’s life. Some fans wish to participate in other aspects of the music process—creation and distribution. The remarkable consumer participation has led to numerous terms in scholarly literature, including ‘prosumer’ (Ritzer and Jurgenson 2010) and ‘Co-creator’ (Hoyer et al. 2010). Most Ghanaian musicians have unique names for their fans, referred to in Ghana as a ‘Fan Army’. These fandoms include Bhimnation for Stonebwoy, Sarknation for Sarkodie, and Shatamovement for Shata Wale.

For OK, his fandom is the OK World. He pays close attention to his fans by regularly engaging and organising them through daily interactions on social media. OK regularly goes ‘live’ on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok, to broadcast his daily routine. During the making of his new album, for instance, he would broadcast his time in the studio so his fans would know and become part of the creative process. Notwithstanding the constant interactions with OK World, he speaks of the need to find a balance and keeps the fans in suspense sometimes. In his words, ‘there is much mystery behind an artist that attracts people. Too much exposure and interaction with them reduce the mystery’ (Interview, 17 October 2019).

Fans contribute to the value of OK through regular interactions. OK maintains a Facebook group page for some of his active fans where they discuss ways of promoting new songs and selling his merchandise. The fans also share news about OK’s music and other upcoming projects. The OK World plays a significant role in the awards OK receives. They vote heavily for him, especially during the Ghana Music Awards. Through the support and patronage of their preferred artist, fans contribute significantly to the sustainability of a modern-day artist.

Conclusion

While there seems to be little risk of music disappearing from our planet altogether, those who make and care for music are continually faced with choices that affect the vitality and sustainability of music practices (Schippers and Grant 2016). The viability of any music culture, therefore, depends on the availability of musicians. Drawing from this, I have focused on OK and his career sustainability strategies to make the case that sustainable music careers are linked with and necessary for the sustainability of music and music cultures. OK’s strategies—resilience, diversification, revitalisation, and interconnection—to overcome the socio-economic challenges in the Ghanaian music industry are not only in line with music and sustainability theories, but his ability to continue making music is concomitant to the sustenance of hiplife.

Discourses of sustainability within ethnomusicology have long been applied mainly to music cultures and the natural environment. In order to revise our understanding of this framework and make our work more meaningful for social actors, we need to push our understanding of music sustainability further to include music careers as one of the major areas of the discussion. Indeed, ethnomusicologists are engaged in helping communities sustain their musical activities, but we must also try to aid musicians in sustaining their careers. This article calls for attention to music careers in different cultures, and a framework of music sustainability presents a good starting point. Like this article, research on music career sustainability will enhance the broader understanding of music careers and provide empirical sustainability strategies for musicians in the Ghanaian music industry and beyond.

Acknowledgements

I express my profound gratitude to Shalini Ayyagari, Nicole Constable, Andrew Weintraub, Eric Sunu Doe and Maame Mensa-Bonsu for their inspiration and guidance during the writing of this article. Thanks to my colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh for their engagement: Anna, Gabriela, Momina, Nicolette, Paula, Sri, and Yue. I appreciate the time and recommendations of the two reviewers and editors. I am grateful to Okyeame Kwame and his team for their generous hospitality.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joshua O. Brew

Josh Brew is an ethnomusicologist and African music enthusiast whose research focuses on music and sustainability, Ghanaian popular music, fandom, and economic anthropology. Josh is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, USA.

Notes

1 This was during a focused group discussion at Cash Two Recording Studio in Accra on 13 January 2019.

2 Akyeame is the plural of okyeame, which translates as a linguist in English.

3 Many scholars have discussed ecomusicology in-depth (Allen 2018; Guy 2009; Pedelty 2012; Rehding 2011; Allen and Dawe 2016).

4 The fieldwork referenced in this paper was part of my M.Phil. qualification and was reviewed and approved by the University of Ghana’s Ethics Board through the Graduate School and Department of Music in June 2018/2019.

5 Palm wine is a locally brewed alcoholic beverage distilled from the trunk of a fallen palm tree.

6 Ethnomusicologists have observed similar challenges in diverse contexts. For example, in Chilean Indie music, musicians face economic hardships because the music industry is based on friendships, alliances, and favours rather than a free market economy (Garland 2019).

7 Other professional associations include the Audio Engineers and Producers Association of Ghana (AEPAGH) and the Record Producer and Publishers Association of Ghana (REPPAG).

8 These strategies are akin to other musicians in other music cultures (See Ayyagari 2022; Grant 2016; Tsioulakis 2021).

9 For some scholars, resilience is not always a positive condition. Resilience can be stubborn, undesirable, and wicked. See, for example, Ayyagari 2022.