Africa Unsigned

Africa Unsigned is a joint initiative by producers, artists, music promoters and managers who believe in the future of African music. Currentlythere are approximately 30 of us scattered across the globe. We are present in Europe, in South Africa, West Africa and in East Africa. Pim Betist, founder of Africa Unsigned, also created online label SellaBand, attracting music fans to invest and empower unsigned artists. More than 3 million dollars were invested in unsigned talent and around 50 artists “crowdfunded” to record and release their album. Pim was nominated Dutch Direct Marketing Man of the year in 2008 and won the title of best speaker at MIA, Holland’s largest marketing conference in 2008. In January 2010 he was listed in Management Team as one of Holland’s top 25 creative business people. Pim explains why he went on to create Africa Unsigned: ‘I wanted to move more towards music closer to my heart and i was inspired by a Jamaican taxi driver who couldn’t join Sellaband due to a lack of recording facilities and internet access. I chose to focus on the African continent because of the diversity of African music and abundance of highly talented artists.’ Creative Director, Daan Determeijer has years of experience working at new & traditional media companies and at the same time was an avid music collector, deejay, booker, promoter & event organizer. When he got the opportunity to combine all his skills, passions and ambitions in one at Africa Unsigned he grabbed the opportunity and dived head first into this adventure. Moreover, he is too damn sexy for this world.