Turning Songs into Assets: The Governance Framework Needed to Power Africa’s Creative Economy When banks start lending against songs instead of buildings, the future of Africa’s creative economy becomes real. But only good governance can turn melody into money, and passion into prosperity, writes Joshua Mawerere, the Head of Stakeholder Relations at the Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda (ICGU).

By Joshua Mawerere

The recent announcement of the partnership between NCBA Bank Kenya and Motif Di Don to introduce ELEV8 Live – a platform to discover, mentor and scale new music talent with the financial and non-financial support they need to grow is a masterclass in forward-thinking governance.

East Africa’s creative economy is full of passion and talent, but many young artists face challenges building sustainable careers.  Kenya has a vibrant and rapidly growing sector that is already a central pillar of economic development, contributing over 5% to the national GDP and employing hundreds of thousands. While in Uganda, the sector is set to grow from its current value of over $1.6 billion to potentially more than $3 billion with the right support.

Moving commercial banks to accept music intellectual property as loan collateral is more than just a banking innovation; it’s a watershed moment for Africa’s creative economy. By recognising songs, catalogues, and royalties as bankable assets through ELEV8 LIVE Studio, NCBA is forcing a necessary collision between two seemingly different worlds: the fluid, passionate realm of art and the structured, regulated world of finance.

Corporate Governance is the bridge connecting these two worlds. Here’s how corporate governance is essential to turning raw talent into tangible wealth.

1. Governance for the Lender: Building a Framework for “New” Assets

For a bank like NCBA is a masterclass move in forward-thinking governance. A bank’s primary duty is to manage risk for its depositors and shareholders. Accepting a song as collateral instead of a car or a building requires a complete re-imagining of risk assessment.

Strong corporate governance enables this by:

• Innovating Risk Models: A well-governed board pushes management to develop robust, data-driven models to value intangible assets. This isn’t about “liking a song”; it’s about forensically analysing its royalty streams, lifespan, and market consistency.
• Mandating Due Diligence: Governance demands rigorous due diligence. The bank must verify the chain of title for every song. Who truly owns the copyright? Are the royalty statements accurate? This structured process prevents fraud and secures the bank’s interest.

• Ensuring Transparency: The bank must be transparent with its stakeholders about this new asset class. Good governance ensures these new lending practices are clearly defined, ethically managed, and integrated into the bank’s official strategy, not just a niche experiment.
• Governance for the Creator: Formalising Art into an Asset.

This new opportunity places a new, positive responsibility on the artist. For a bank to lend against your art, your art must be “bankable.” The “starving artist” model is incompatible with institutional finance.

Good governance for a creative enterprise—even a solo artist—means formalisation:

• Ironclad IP Registration: The foundation of this entire system is proving you own what you claim to own. Good governance means diligent registration of copyrights, trademarks, and publishing rights with the relevant authorities.
• Transparent Accounting: Creatives must move from informal earnings to formal bookkeeping. This involves meticulous tracking of all royalty streams—from streaming platforms, radio play, and sync licenses. Clean, auditable financial records are non-negotiable.
• Professional Structures: This move encourages artists to create formal business entities (like a limited company), establish clear contracts (split sheets) with producers and co-writers, and manage their business affairs professionally.

Corporate Governance: The Bridge to Wealth

NCBA’s initiative has opened the door. But it is corporate governance—on both sides of the deal—that provides the key.

For the bank, it provides the confidence to lend against a new, previously misunderstood asset. For the artist, it provides the structure to transform a creative work into a legally recognised, financially valuable asset. This is how the gap is bridged. Governance turns a hit song from a fleeting cultural moment into a sustainable financial tool, allowing artists to finally leverage their past success to fund their future growth.