Border to Border and Beyond Music Publishing
Territories worldwide have both similar and differing infrastructure for collecting and administering publishing royalties on behalf of artists. Through artistic collaboration and research, we’ve learned certain systems lack the ability to collect and payout publishing royalties and thus we needed a solution. Creator driven, Boda Boda Publishing was born to administer publishing royalty payout in underrepresented territories, and create an avenue for global market access for musicians.
What Do We Do:
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Collect and administer payout of publishing royalties generated in international territories to our co-writers and artists worldwide.
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Facilitate music publishing and licensing, and teach artists about various opportunities
Why We Do It:
As artists and creators, music is our language, and it’s universal. Industry standards are not universal however, and we are trying to equal the playing field so that collaborators across borders have the ability to generate and receive music revenue that is owed to them, worldwide.
ORIGIN STORY
Natalia J, an artist originally from Colorado, US, moved to Kenya in 2022. Upon exploring the music scene in Kenya, she was introduced to Brian Oketch, Owner of ArtBeat District, a music production and videography studio. They quickly began collaborating on a project together. With Natalia’s professional background in music licensing, she wanted to pitch their collaborations to the North American and European music markets, but in order to do that she needed to ensure her co-writers were set up to be properly compensated through the various styles of royalties artists can generate. They learned crucial systems were not in place to collect publishing and performance royalties From there, they determined there was a need to facilitate a streamlined solution to receive publishing royalty payout.
“Boda Boda” is a term coined by the motorcyclists of Kenya, who taxi the population from “border to border” on a daily basis. Boda drivers are an integral part of society and their ability to transport any number of people at a given time or extraordinarily large cargo on the back of their bike is a symbol of bold possibility. What many may find impossible, you’ll find a Boda driver making possible. This “can-do,” mentality, coupled with the border to border motif, inspired the name for Natalia and Brian's publishing company. It represents the idea that music can not only transcend borders, but the possibilities are limitless.
meet our managing partner
BRIAN 'ROBIN' oketch
Since 2017, Kenyan music producer, Brian "Robin" Oketch has been actively creating music with East African and international artistes in alternative and popular culture spaces including Steves J Bryan, Bensoul, Nazizi, Karun, Gabiro MTU Necessary, Akoth Jumadi, Nebulazz, Natalia J among others. He started his career in Kisumu serving as the in-house producer at One Vibe Africa Studios for three years. He later moved on to start Artbeat District, a cutting edge audio and motion picture production house. Through the years, Robin has been involved in the promotion of SDGs and contributed towards the realization of Kenya's vision 2030 by providing mentorship in music and film. Through this, Robin has been nominated and won the WHDO award for male mentor of the years 2019 and 2021.
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