There is a beautiful trend taking root in Kenya’s music industry of artistes who have spent years building careers and legacies, increasingly marking their milestones not just with cake and champagne, but with concerts.

Last February, P-Unit, one of Kenya’s pioneering Genge groups, celebrated 20 years in music with a spectacular concert at the Mass House on Ngong Road.

Two years before, Sauti Sol had marked a major milestone in their 17-year career with their final major group performance at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi. The widely celebrated farewell Sol Fest concert was a sold-out affair, drawing 15,000 fans.

On August 1, 2026, it was Nadia Mukami’s turn. The singer returned to the same venue for a star-studded live concert celebrating a decade of music and hits.

This Friday, legendary singer David Mathenge, popularly known as Nameless, took the stage at the Carnivore Grounds to celebrate 25 years of musical excellence, a journey that began in 1999, when he was still an architecture student at the University of Nairobi.

Tickets for the mega concert, dubbed Nameless @25, that retailed for between Sh5,000 and Sh30,000 sold out a day before the show, with a star-studded line-up featuring his wife Wahu, Nyashinski, Mr Lenny, Kidum, Okello Max, Big Pin, Necessary Noise, Iyanii, P-Unit, and the duo of Habib & Manga.

Next in line is legendary dancehall king Redsan, who is taking a slightly different route from some of his peers. He will stage a solo concert, Redsan at 30, at the Carnivore Grounds on August 29, celebrating three decades in music.

Beyond the nostalgia, however, these anniversary concerts have another rhythm playing quietly in the background that many might not have been keen to notice — the millions of shillings these artistes are raking in from staging these anniversary concerts.

What looks to the audience like a night of nostalgia, lights, and familiar songs for the artiste is a carefully curated and packaged commercial opportunity. To the fans, they offer a chance to relive the golden years, hear old favourites performed live, and reconnect with artistes whose music has provided the soundtrack to different chapters of their lives.

Lucrative business

But for the artistes, even for those who have remained inactive over the years but once dominated the charts, the celebrations are also lucrative business ventures.

“At the end of the day, it's business, you know. It's not like they are doing it for fun. Yes, it’s a celebration of a milestone hit, but in hindsight, it presents a huge opportunity to cash in. They are investing money into these concerts, and they need to sell enough to make their money back and a profit,” entertainment lawyer David Katee tells Buzz.

Sauti Sol’s farewell concert in November 2023 offers a revealing glimpse of just how much money can sit beneath the nostalgia. Before the four members went their separate ways as solo artists, the group staged their popular annual concert, Sol Fest, where they were the only act on stage.

In a compilation of concerts that raked in big bucks in 2023, based on findings and interviews I conducted with event planners and organisers, booking agents, as well as an analysis of ticket prices and attendance, Sauti Sol’s final group concert emerged among Kenya’s top-grossing concerts of the year.

VIP tickets sold for Sh20,000, while regular tickets went for Sh2,500, with both categories selling out. With attendance of more than 10,000 people, the concert generated more than Sh97 million in revenue against an estimated Sh70 million budget invested in staging the event.

Sauti Sol alone made at least Sh22 million from VIP ticket sales, without factoring in additional income from vendor spaces and brand partnerships, including Coca-Cola. Brand partnerships were reported to have generated another Sh15 million.

Vendor spaces also opened another revenue stream, with prices varying depending on the category and ranging between Sh50,000 and Sh70,000.

Then there was the Fan Show, designed for fans who wanted something beyond the main concert experience - the backstage access and a meet-and-greet with the Sauti Sol performers. Only 600 tickets were made available, each priced at Sh6,500. Every ticket was sold, generating another Sh3.9 million.

The figures offer a glimpse behind the curtain of Kenya’s growing anniversary-concert culture. The music may be celebrating the past, but the business is very much looking to the future.

“This year’s Sol Fest was a huge investment. It cost quite a lot, between Sh50 million and Sh70 million. We are satisfied with the investment. Moriasi Omambia, Sauti Sol General Counsel and Sauti Sol Group of Companies Head of Business, told Nation then.

When P-Unit marked their 20th anniversary, reports within the industry indicated that they made anything between Sh10 million and Sh15 million from the concert.

“Yes, I was hugely involved in planning the P Unit at the concert, especially on the legal aspects. I worked on many contracts for that event, from vendors to the venue, to brand partnerships, and even the artists, but I honestly can't give you a cumulative figure of how much they made because of the many moving parts that were involved, which makes me not so certain. But even if I were, that is for P Unit to disclose.

"However, what I can tell you is that, from the figures I was seeing while handling the various contracts, it was a worthwhile investment by P Unit. They also delivered a performance of a lifetime, and that is not me saying that, but as was seen by the social media reactions.”

Besides the sale of tickets, artistes have also gotten an opportunity to generate more revenue from the sale of their merchandise.

But Katee also notes that these anniversary concerts are not only a one-time opportunity to cash in.

“Beyond the concert, the build-up to the concert and aftermath propel the artist's music back into circulation. I remember that because of the buzz around the P Unit at 20, we noticed a spike in their music streams. It could be people who have never heard of them and want to find out who they really are, or just longtime fans who want to reminisce about some of their songs. We also noticed the same thing when the Nonini Copyright case against content creator Brian Mutinda became highly publicised by the media, there was a shoot in his music streams to the extent that we started seeing TikTok challenges of his songs some of which were even never a hit.”

But springing back to circulation is not only limited to a spike in music streams, which in turn translates to a bigger royalty payout.

To some artists, Katee notes that it might be a daunting task for them to stage a normal concert on their own and make margins.

“There are those artiste whom, on a normal day they cannot sustain a show on their own, especially those who have been inactive for a while. But with an anniversary, because it's a mark of celebration of a special milestone, it makes the concert more appealing to different sets of fans. But also it becomes easier for them to attract corporate brands for partnerships.” Despite a lot of brands in recent years downscaling event partnerships, with several drastically cutting down on those budgets, when it comes to anniversary concerts, it's clearly evident that artists don't struggle to attract them.

“Because it’s an anniversary and people are expecting an experience out of the usual, it presents a different opportunity for a brand to say no to. Take Nameless at 25, for example, it is a rare opportunity to turn down, and that is why he was able to attract several brand partnerships. Take Safaricom, for example, which has a Skiza platform that sells musicians' songs as callback tones and makes millions of shillings out of that. I do not see how they could have possibly said no to an act like Nameless. He is also a big brand that Safaricom, as a brand, would want to be seen to associate with because of the audience he appeals to.”

“Remember, Safaricom has also been severally accused of ripping off artistes' royalties through the sale of the Skiza Tunes, a good point in case it is JB Maina, whom they paid Sh15 million for copyright infringements. So being seen on board with a great artiste of Nameless caliber is also a good PR strategy for the company.”

But beyond the revenue generated from the event, the aftermath is equally beneficial.

“These concerts spring them back into circulation and also increase their relevance, for that matter. Also, it becomes a good marketing strategy tool for the artists who, because of the hype, have their attention now shifts to their catalogue as they may gain a new audience, especially Gen Z and even millennials who can relate to their yesteryear songs but were probably not their fans then. So that becomes a strategy to increase their catalogue numbers as far as streaming is concerned.”

Once back into circulation, Katee further notes that it becomes easier for an artiste to release new content and not have to struggle to push it.

“Because now people are familiarised with your work and even those who had forgotten about you are now back in the fold, it becomes easier to release fresh content and not have to struggle to push it.”

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tmatiko@ke.nationmedia.com