Pepsi taps Empire

Photo Credit: Sam Cumming

A new partnership between Pepsi and independent music industry giant Empire launches the Pepsi Music Academy to help bolster the development of the Nigerian music industry.

Pepsi Nigeria has partnered with independent label and global music industry giant Empire to launch the Pepsi Music Academy (PMA) to further the development of the Nigerian music industry.

According to Segun Ogunleye, General Manager of Marketing at Seven-Up Bottling Company, at a press conference in Lagos, PMA will cater to the discovery and incubation of talent across all facets of the music industry to further support the music ecosystem.

Ogunleye explained the academy will expose participants to “intense industry education” from a meticulously curated faculty of music business leaders who have contributed significantly to the global growth of Afrobeats and Nigerian music.

Thirty people will be selected to attend a 10-day summit. Three finalists from the academy will receive a wealth of benefits: a new SUV, a two-year living allowance, an opportunity to be a Pepsi influencer, having their music produced by Grammy Award-winning producers Sarz, Masterkraft, Blaisebeatz, and P.Priime, a music video production sponsored by the brand, and a two-year developmental recording deal with Empire.

“Pepsi has been one of the most prominent promoters of Afrobeats, and we are keen to sustain and expand the current success recorded by enabling a structure that would maintain the global dominance of Afrobeats,” said Ogunleye.

“Afrobeats, which is now exported globally, has become more unaffordable for the average Nigerian, and with PMA, we will be raising the next set of industry talents to grow Afrobeats and continue to make fun moments more accessible to our consumers.”

“This is the reason we have partnered with a global music entity, Empire, to birth the Pepsi Music Academy. The Pepsi Music Academy will be a game-changer for the music industry because it will not just be a platform to discover, nurture, and empower music talents — it will also provide a rounded education for young individuals who are interested in other aspects of music, such as A&R, legal, public relations, marketing, (and) sound engineering, among others.”

Empire’s Regional Head of West Africa, Mobolaji Kareem, asserted the partnership with Pepsi serves as a landmark project for the next generation of music industry talent to further expand the global dominance of Afrobeats.