TheCAPMusic COO Calls for Institutional Framework to Globalise African Music

By Salami Adeyinka

The Chief Operating Officer of TheCAPMusic, Tolulope Tunmise, has said the next phase of African music’s global rise must be driven by structure, ownership, and long-term institutional thinking.

Speaking on the evolving global position of African entertainment, Tunmise noted that while the cultural export of Afrobeats has accelerated over the past decade, sustainable international growth would depend on capital efficiency, intellectual property ownership, and scalable creative systems.

According to him, African music is no longer seeking visibility but consolidation.

“The conversation is shifting from exposure to institutionalisation,” he said. “The goal is not just to export sound, but to build platforms that can sustain global careers.”

Tunmise, also the manager of SPINALL, has been part of TheCAPMusic’s executive leadership since 2012 and currently oversees its operational and commercial direction.

The company, known for its producer-first orientation, positioned itself early as a creative development platform rather than a traditional artist-centric record label.

In 2014, he led the identification and signing of producers whose work would later account for a significant share of African music exports during a defining period for the genre’s international expansion. Industry observers regard that phase as pivotal in establishing African production as a competitive force in global popular music.

In close strategic partnership, they have expanded SPINALL’s footprint beyond the domestic circuit into key international markets across Africa, Europe, and North America intentionally building him into the biggest Afrobeats DJ brand in the world.

As a first-mover for Afrobeats DJs on the global festival circuit, they have secured landmark appearances at Coachella, Glastonbury Festival, Afro Nation, Lollapalooza, ComplexCon, and Wireless Festival establishing new benchmarks for DJ-led Afrobeats representation on premier international stages.

Concurrently, they collaboratively engineered brand partnership structures at a time when endorsement frameworks in Africa were largely reserved for recording artists, positioning SPINALL not just as a performer, but as a global cultural brand.

Tunmise described these milestones as the outcome of long-term brand architecture rather than isolated achievements.

“Every performance, collaboration, or partnership must feed into a cohesive global narrative,” noting that career sustainability requires deliberate positioning rather than reactive momentum.

Beyond TheCAPMusic, he is a co-founder of Access Granted Distribution, a development-focused distribution and services platform designed to provide emerging artists with structured support and international access. He is also involved in live entertainment intellectual property, including Èkó Groove, a cultural platform integrating live events with documentary storytelling.

Industry stakeholders say such vertically integrated models reflect a broader shift within African entertainment toward ownership, infrastructure development, and cross-market scalability.

Tunmise, whose academic background is in Insurance and Actuarial Science, said analytical discipline and risk-based planning have shaped his management philosophy within the creative sector.

“The creative economy must be managed with the same rigour as any other global industry,” he said.

As African music continues to expand into new territories, Tunmise maintained that the priority is not rapid volume growth but strategic depth.

“We are building careers, not moments,” he added.