Interview by Neil Crossley
West African live entertainment company Flytime Promotions has confirmed British rap star Central Cee and Nigerian singer-songwriter/rapper Rema for its Coca-Cola Rhythm Unplugged concert (December 21), Nigeria’s most iconic and longest-running live music event, which is now in its 21st year.
Meanwhile, big-name homegrown artists Flavour, Olamide, Asake and Davido will headline Flytime Fest across four days, from December 22-25. Both events will take place at the indoor 6,000-capacity Eko Convention Centre in Lagos.
This is Flytime Promotions’ biggest December season yet. Since launching in 2004, the company has been at the forefront of the Afrobeats explosion with artists such as Burna Boy, Rema, Davido, Asake and Wizkid leading the charge.
The global market for Afrobeats has experienced huge growth over the last decade, with a massive increase in listenership, streaming revenue, and overall market value. A report published in May 2025 by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the genre is contributing approximately $2bn to the $26bn global music economy.
High-profile collaborations have fuelled this growth. According to the Spotify 2025 Wrapped report, Rema’s collaboration with Selena Gomez, Calm Down, was the most exported local song for the third year in a row, while Burna Boy was the most exported artist. The same report concluded that Nigeria’s music scene is “absolutely thriving”, with local music consumption increasing by 83% and daily streams growing by 32%.
Flytime Promotions has been at the forefront of the Afrobeats genre since long before its global explosion. The company has also played a pivotal role in driving the genre’s growth through continuous investment while nurturing and championing many of its most influential artists.
On the eve of Flytime Fest and its flagship one-day concert Rhythm Unplugged, Flytime Promotions’ COO Keke Hammond – a powerhouse of the African entertainment industry – discusses this year’s events, the contributing factors to Flytime’s success and the company’s plans for global expansion…
Flytime Promotions was at the forefront of Afrobeats long before its transition from niche genre to global mainstream. How have you managed to drive growth while nurturing and championing local talent?
“When we started out, nobody understood what we were doing, because on the radio stations, it was basically foreign music that was being played. It would be false of me to sit down here and say that, you know, we haven't had challenges. Absolutely we have. But the reality is that the community has embraced what we've done, from our government to the artists themselves, who recognise who we are and what we've done over time, as well as our sponsors.
“We have expanded and grown really because of our resilient spirit. We have an incredible team of people who also believe in what we do. We are very experimental and we take risks. Genre diversity is also important to us. I think one thing the sponsors would say is that we are consistent. We have always just played the long game. And most importantly, we always deliver exceptional production value every year. And I think that those are the key things that have kept our audiences believing in us.
“Safety is also one of our biggest selling points. We ensure the safety of our artists and the audience, and so they know that when they come to our events. We focus on curating these experiences that people honestly look forward to. We are also very strategic with the kind of sponsors we have: Coca-Cola, Martell, Heineken are all big in the music game. Those collaborations, to be honest, have helped over time.”
What have Flytime Promotions’ biggest challenges been since forming 21 years ago this month?
“The major challenges, honestly, would be infrastructure. We have outgrown the venue that we use, which is why we get sold out year after year. The demand is very high but we do not have a purpose-built arena. But there are about three arenas that are being built right now – one is a 10,000 to 12,000-seater – which we are really excited about because that allows various opportunities for touring locally and internationally. They will then give a cross-cultural opportunity for people to come in and for our artists to do more collaboration.”
How significant is the inclusion of Central Cee as special guest alongside headliner Rema at this year’s Rhythm Unplugged?
“We are really excited about Central Cee’s inclusion, to be honest. We felt like this was the time to bring an artist like him who loves African music and who's done collaborations with a lot of Nigerian artists. Rema and Central Cee both bring something very, very special. Rema is the prince of Afrobeats and represents the power of Afrobeats. Currently he's this global force and it's exciting to also have Central Cee who brings something different.
“It's almost like a collaboration between the UK and Nigeria and I think it gives a great bridge for the youth to see both of them. It's about bringing the two cultures together on this stage for the enjoyment of the youth in Nigeria. We just felt it was a perfect, brilliant celebration.
“We’ve also got artists such as Moliy, a Ghanaian-American Afrobeat star, and we’re really excited to have her. As a female executive, it's really important to me to make sure that we have female artists on the bill. We had Ayra Starr last year and it’s my passion to make sure that we are adding females to the bill every single year.”
You plan to take Rhythm Unplugged into different parts of Africa and also to tour the US, UK, Europe and Asia. Can you expand on this?
“What Rhythm Unplugged has done is that it’s grown into an exportable IP. The plan for taking it on tour isn't simply to replicate the Lagos experience, but to adapt it, thoughtfully, to all those different markets. So we start off in Africa and it will combine Nigerian artists as well as some of the top African artists in that region, and then the same thing in the US and UK.
“But Rhythm Unplugged is a combination of established artists and up-and-coming artists… I think what makes it enjoyable as well is we had an up-and-coming act many years ago called Pheelz. He performed a song that nobody knew and by the year after, his song was the number one song on Spotify in Nigeria and the same happened with Wizkid and Olamide. And so we're hoping that we can carry that same essence, that same spirit, on. It’s about building something that is exciting and sustainable and not necessarily transactional.”
It's almost like a collaboration between the UK and Nigeria – bringing the two cultures together on this stage for the enjoyment of the youth in Nigeria
Keke Hammond
What trends is Flytime seeing in terms of programming, ticketing and audience behaviour?
“Typically, as a nation, we do things at the last minute. We usually sell our tickets in the last week, unlike in the UK and the US or anywhere else, where they're sold months in advance. What that does for us is that it opens up gateways for people reselling tickets and the way to safeguard that for us was to sell in the last week.
“But we changed that this year, because there were so many different events going on. We started selling a month in advance, which is something we've never done before. More than ever before, our tickets get sold out much faster. So we’re excited about that because it’s showing that people understand the value that we bring, and that tickets can be sold out, so they should buy ahead. They're also choosing to take part in early bird [ticket offers].
“They are also paying attention to the fact that we shut doors. We have a very strict rule whereby doors close at a particular time, so the audience is understanding the standards that we are setting. They're realising that, ‘okay, this company is very different’.”
What steps are you taking to invest in next generation talent?
“We have a segment that's really exciting called The Future, which is a platform for talented 13- to 17-year olds. We do a search across the area and we pick the best four [artists]. That segment is also hosted by a child between 13 and 17 years old. So it allows people, brands, and so on and so forth, to see talented kids, because a lot of them don't have a platform at all.
“What happened last year was, one of the talented kids that we had on, he was then asked to co-host the Music Video Africa Awards. But he got that job because he was seen on the Future Platform. So these opportunities can be pretty exciting.”
What are the benefits of a December schedule in terms of attracting talent and why is it specifically held then?
“I always say that December in Lagos is just not a calendar date, it is a cultural season. A lot of the Nigerian artists who might be touring globally all come home in the December season. It's also the time where the diaspora comes home, and when audiences are primed for these kinds of premium experiences. December with us has just become synonymous with quality, with celebration, with discovery, and because we have delivered consistently, Flytime has now been able to build that trust with artists, with fans and with sponsors
“Originally, we used to tour all year long in different parts of Nigeria and nobody was doing that. And what our data showed us was that our numbers in December were much higher than any other month. The spending power is also higher because people are on holiday. So we consolidated all of those efforts into this December month. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery and so what we've seen is that people thought, okay, Flytime is on to something here so let's follow suit and everybody else caught on.
“December, for us, has just become synonymous with quality, with celebration, with discovery, and because we have delivered consistently, Flytime has now been able to build that trust with artists and with fans.”
