Minister of State Umutoni Sandrine
The Minister of State in Ministry of Youth and Arts in Rwanda, Sandrine Umutoni has urged artists to make good use of the upcoming Music in Africa Conference ACCES in order to learn how to earn from their creativity in this digital era.
The minister was speaking at a press conference airing the benefits of Rwanda hosting such a big music conference in Africa, slated to take place in Kigali from 14th-16th November 2024.
“The conference is a great platform to our creative industry since it brings together musicians and business people behind music industry to share ideas, discover local talents, share expertise and exchange ideas with international artists on how to do music as a business. This means that artists have a chance on how to learn more about earning from their creatives, technical know how about intellectual property law and networking,” says Minister Sandrine.
“We know what music brings to our communities and to our economy because at the end of the day, it’s all about creative economy and when we talk about creative economy, we mean sustainable development of the entire economy of the country”.
Acces is a Pan-African trade show for music industry players to exchange ideas, discover new talents and create business linkages.
The program will feature more than 20 artists across Africa including Rwanda’s rapper Bushali, Ariel Wayz, Heavy K, producer, composer and Dj (South Africa), Octopizzo, Kenya, Sir Trill singer-song writer, composer/producer (South Africa) to mention but a few.
One of the organizers of the conference and (Music In Africa) MIAF director from South Africa, shade light on some of the key expectations.
“Music is a business; music can change life and economy in Africa when it’s done as a business. So, in this conference there will be a session where artists will exchange expertise on technical know how on how a musician can earn money from masters, loyalties, streaming platforms as well as monetization strategies,” says Eddie Hatitye, Founding and Executive Director of Music in Africa. 
Musician/radio personality Austin Luwano aka Uncle Austin also chipped in the conversation and stressed out issues local musicians face and how they are prepared to make use of the conference to overcome them.
“We still do music as a one army thing yet music needs a big team for an artist to focus on creative part. There’s a lot to learn from this coming conference as artists since it brings together experienced artists, business people affiliated with music industry sharing ideas and expertise on how music can be done professionally,” says Uncle Austin.
In addition to the conference, honorary awarding local music icon and performances, ACCES will offer capacity building sessions designed to equip fresh and established talents with essential industry skills.
Rwanda is hosting the conference for the first time after Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Senegal.
