It is the last lap of 2025 and, as per recent custom, Detty December is officially upon us. What this means is that we are caught in the middle of diverse forms of enjoyment for all persons. Concerts, parties, festivals, and crusades will be held across the country, with Accra at the centre of it all.
As consumers, we will be spoilt for choice. While that is exciting to experience, it also becomes a burden and a curse. How, you ask? Imagine wanting to attend concerts by different artists, only to find out that two of them are hosting events on the same day at the same time.
Ideally, this means you can kill two birds with one stone, but this is Accra, and “you will tear your ACL” if you try to pull that move. In this piece, I call on artists to consider the other 11 months available to them for shows rather than lumping all the events into December.
From where I sit, this is arguably the most packed December in a long time. From the list of events announced so far, there are already a few clashes happening as early as December 13th. In previous years, clashes began on December 20th, but 2025 has its own agenda. The 13th, for one, has about four events happening around the same time. The one event that stands out significantly is The Oasis Collective’s “The Outside,” which is a Christian-themed event. Rooted in its religious audience, this is the only event with a unique audience. The other three events are Medikal’s stadium event, Ko-Jo Cue’s “For My Brothers” Concert, and Cina Soul’s “Cincity“. These events share a similar audience base, with Ko-Jo Cue & Cina having the most in common.
What this means is that a fan who typically wants to attend a Cina Soul & Ko-Jo Cue concert will most likely miss one of them. This, in the end, robs the consumer of an experience they might not get the opportunity to experience again soon. These clashes may not necessarily affect the artists, but they do affect consumers, who may not admit it, and, in some cases, the media.
For small-scale media outlets with limited staff, they would not be able to provide coverage for consumers across all these events. Artists are barely getting paid to perform at some of these shows, and media outlets are no different. What that means is that if a media outlet wants to cover multiple events happening simultaneously, they either hire more staff or forfeit one or more of them. Like the 13th, there are other dates like the 18th and 24th and others that have multiple events happening simultaneously.
There are 12 months in the year, but for some reason, December is when the majority of our artists want to host their events. The explanation given by some is that Detty December is “cocoa season”, and the influx of the diaspora market means more consumers to go around. What these people forget is that the cocoa season does not mean you need to host your own show to cash out. If you have had a good year, you can be booked and busy without having your own show.
On the issue of the diaspora market, it is a non-starter. The consumers coming from the diaspora, for the most part, have already booked the events they will be attending, with major festivals like Afrofuture & Detty Rave leading the line. Other events with diaspora attendance in high numbers are the signature parties hosted by popular venues and personalities. This leaves the other concerts to the same local consumer who has been available to these artists since January 1st. Hence, there is no guarantee that the diaspora market will be in attendance at a lot of these events.
We already have a pricing issue that is discouraging many event attendees. Other issues, like timing problems and value for money at many of these concerts, already mean fewer attendees. Couple that with hotspoting of the same bracket of artist lineups, and you already have fewer desirable events to attend.
It is evident that artists want to cap off the year with their own shows, but I believe it is a façade. Crowning off the year is not limited to just having a show. You can crown off the year with a song, giving back to your fans all the support, or some other gesture, instead of shoving yourself down the already choked December enjoyment throat.
It is okay to host your event in any of the other 11 months of the year, except December. Consumers deserve to experience their artists live, and if you, as an artist outside those with a stronghold on the market, care about your fans, you will consider hosting your event in any of the other months rather than December.
