A study of how the internationalisation of amapiano has contributed to South Africa’s soft power and created foreign market access opportunities

Abstract

Amapiano, a South African-originated music genre, operates as an emergent form of Soft Power for South Africa, which, through its global rise, has created a pathway for foreign market access for South African cultural businesses. The research paper explores three interlinked themes behind the global increase and internationalisation of Amapiano (1), South African soft power projection through cultural expression (2), Amapiano evolutions into a cultural ecosystem with local and global network links, and (3) the role that digital platforms play in the international acceleration of the genre. The research paper leveraged an interpretivist qualitative design. Key insights were collected from 12 semi-structured interviews with three practitioner groups in the Amapiano ecosystem: talent management, interdependent record labels, brand and marketing agencies, and digital distribution companies. A narrative analysis approach was used to study and extract insights from the collected data. Findings in the research paper demonstrated that Amapiano functions as a bottom-up soft power that translates visibility into commercial activities. The findings revealed that global collaborations are at the centre of this global rise, but weak industry professionalism risks the genre's global sustainability. The research paper offers a framework for the internationalisation and global rise of Amapiano and its soft power.