“Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety, and life to everything. It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is good and just and beautiful.” — Plato
Music, they say, is the language of the universe. Whether you're a 25-year-old Nigerian hearing K-pop for the first time or a 55-year-old Belgian hearing Afrobeats at a club in Brussels, when you hear it, you just get it.
Across the world, individuals are spending more time than ever consuming music. According to the Engaging with Music 2023 report, an average of 20.7 hours was spent listening to music each week in 2023, up from 20.1 hours in 2022.
Of the countries surveyed, Nigerians spent 31.1 hours listening to music each week, while the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia spent 28.7 hours and 28.3 hours, respectively.
We're not just consuming more music; we now have a plethora of channels to choose from. Audio streaming is by far the most common method of accessing music, with 71% of people using that channel.
Radio, video streaming, live music, and purchased music are the other common channels. Although used by only 4% of music lovers, concerts account for an estimated 58.1% of the music industry's revenues.
While record-breaking amounts are being spent on live concerts, many music lovers report being unable to attend live shows due to price considerations. Fifty-one per cent of people in the UK admit to missing out on concerts at least once in the last five years due to rising costs.
So how can more music lovers enjoy their favourite artistes alongside other passionate individuals? The trio of Edidiong Ekong, Boluwatife Sokunbi, and Uchenna Uchechukwu believe their startup, Liveparte is the answer.
Meet the founders
All three founders have extensive experience in fintech, digital entertainment, and video streaming.
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Edidiong, who heads the startup's marketing efforts, was one of the earliest local employees at Boomplay, a streaming platform, where he helped grow user numbers from two million to 90 million in two years.
That experience saw him dive into the world of music streaming working with musicians and record labels, but before that, he built a sports ticketing platform as a student. After leaving Boomplay, he led marketing at startups such as Alerzo, Klasha, and Veedez.
Sokunbi, the chief product officer, previously built a video shopping eCommerce startup with Ekong. However, they opted not to spend time on it because they felt the African market was not ready for it. He previously held roles at Brass, WayaMoney, 54gene, and Zedcrest Capital.
The third member of the crew, Uchechukwu is a software engineer with more than ten years of experience building products at companies such as Fireflies and Pluto TV.
The Liveparte experience
Liveparte is built around three core groups: event organisers, music lovers, and indie artistes.
For music lovers unable to watch their favourite artistes due to scheduling or financial constraints, Liveparte provides a cheaper alternative using devices they already own.
On the other hand, event organisers can access a wider audience beyond those who can pay for concert tickets. An Eventbrite study revealed that 68% of music festival organisers struggled with profitability.
In addition to giving them access to a wider audience, Liveparte provides with customer engagement and analytics tools, allowing them to engage concert goers regularly and build a more loyal customer base.
That ability, Ekong shares, is what differentiates Liveparte from video streaming platforms like YouTube or even social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
For the indie artiste without the ability to fill a 20,000 capacity venue, Liveparte allows them to reach their fans where they are and ensure they do not lose out on much needed revenue.
Currently only available on the web, Liveparte has two applications: one for users and another for event organisers. The user platform allows users to purchase tickets in over 135 currencies and gift artistes during live performances.
The event organiser platform allows event hosts access to their studio where they can create and livestream events. Through an integration with the open source streaming software, OBS Studio, event owners can go live in one click.
Team members can also be added, while insights and analytics from the events can be viewed on a dashboard. Ensuring a great user experience is key to pulling off such a product, and Liveparte is building its streaming infrastructure in-house.
"We have built our product to the point where if you want to stream, the video won't buffer regardless of your network strength," Sokunbi notes.
Liveparte has three primary revenue sources. It takes 40% of ticketing revenue, with event organisers taking 60%. It also serves in-stream ads at specific times during events. Event organisers get a cut of this revenue.
It currently provides its fan engagement platform for free but plans to monetise it as soon as it builds a solid user base. Meanwhile, revenue from ticket sales is paid out after seven days.
Challenges and future outlook
It's only been a few months since work started on Liveparte – the startup officially launched in January 2024 and spent the previous three months speaking to users – but the team has faced its fair share of challenges.
Top of that list is onboarding event organisers. With no track record to point to, Ekong shares that it has been slightly difficult to convince them of the startup's value proposition.
But getting them onboard is crucial to the startup's strategy. As he repeatedly pointed out, users will go where the artistes are. Fortunately, they would soon be able to point to a track record.
In May 2024, it ran a stress test of the platform using a concert by DJ Therapy and hosted a concert by Nigerian artiste, Seyi Vibes in September. The Seyi Vibes concert had 600 attendees despite the team having just three days to promote it.
Talent is another challenge, especially as it plans to create a more immersive experience for users. Part of that plan involves integrating augmented reality, but the scarcity of local technical talent to build that out could cause it to put those plans on hold.
Still, the founders remain optimistic. It hopes to host 20 events with an average of 10,000 people before the end of 2024.
"We imagine that if there were 100 events happening globally every day, at least three to five of those should be live streamed on our platform," Ekong shares.
Additionally, it has closed partnerships with a few event organisers, including Afro Nation, and is looking beyond Africa for growth. "I'm not building a Nigerian platform. Nigeria or Africa could be a starting point, but it's a platform that is scalable and can be used anywhere in the world," Ekong concludes.
