Symphonic Distribution, a digital music distribution and marketing company based in Florida, the United States, has announced Tunji Afonja as its new Lead Creative Executive.
Earlier this year, Symphonic began its expansion into the African market by ‘opening shop’ in South Africa with a team consisting of A&R and Client Marketing services. The next strategic move for the company was hiring a personnel with a strong understanding of the African market who is also not afraid of making bold moves. Tunji Afonja is believed to be the right candidate.
Afonja, a Civil Engineering graduate from Tulane University, Louisiana, U.S, was Mavin Records’ Chief Digital Officer until November 2020.
He joined Mavin Records in April 2014, two years after it was founded by Don Jazzy, and became the Chief Digital Officer of the record label.
Afonja joins the American music company with a wealth of experience and achievements from his time as the Chief Digital Officer of Mavin Records.
His many innovative ideas and campaigns that contributed in generating billions of streams at Mavin Records made him one of Don Jazzy’s top lieutenants.
Afonja was one of the key masterminds behind the successful rollout and introduction of Rema to the Nigerian audience. He was also responsible for building Mavin’s digital following to over 4 million across all social platforms.
Now touted as one of the most important executive hires for Afrobeats, his appointment means more representation for African artistes at the tables where the decisions are being made.
“I am thankful to Jorge Brea (Symphonic CEO) for giving me this unique opportunity to be radically creative with the goal of achieving game changing success,” Afonja wrote on his LinkedIn page.
He emphasized that for African music to win on a global level, more labels and distributors need to think outside the box and be willing to make bold moves. This, he said, is an approach that Symphonic is excited to take.
Described as a platform that is always rooting for the artiste, Symphonic has taken major steps to secure key partnerships and aggregators that are focused on Afrobeats, Gospel, Gqom, and other genres. Even more significant is Symphonic’s acquisition of J. Martins’ catalog, which is part of an effort to modernise and efficiently distribute iconic catalogs from this market. This gives an idea of how much commitment the distribution company is putting towards Africa.
Afonja’s work at Symphonic will include the execution of viral campaigns and trends like he did at Mavin. He innovated quite a few Afrobeats trends (EPs, Milestone Marketing, Dance Challenges), and his initiatives always kept Mavin one step ahead of the game. Tunji also A&Rs, helping pick some of the biggest songs Mavin has released.
Tunji Afonja is well loved by artists and players across the industry and has helped and advised many, some that include Cuppy, Rexxie, Zlatan and AudioMack. His new role so far has been embraced by many top players in the music industry, including Don Jazzy, who has wished him all the best in this new endeavour.
He said Symphonic will begin their rollout of African projects on their roster in the near future.