Coachella sued, so Afrochella became AfroFuture. How Accra’s December festival kept its crowd

In October 2022, the organisers of California’s Coachella festival sued a festival in Accra over its name.

The festival was Afrochella, held every December at El Wak Stadium in Accra, which had grown into one of the signature events of the city’s “Detty December” season. Coachella and its promoter, Goldenvoice, claimed that the name infringed their trademark and that Afrochella was promoting events in the United States and Ghana under a confusingly similar mark. The Ghanaian organisers held a final Afrochella on 28 and 29 December 2022, then changed the name. The festival returned in 2023 as AfroFuture.

From Afrochella to Detty December

Afrochella was created by young Ghanaian and diaspora entrepreneurs who wanted a festival celebrating African music, art, food and fashion. It grew rapidly in the late 2010s, especially after the Year of Return in 2019 brought large numbers of diaspora visitors to Ghana in December.

The festival’s line-ups featured leading Ghanaian and Nigerian artists, and its crowds mixed local fans with visitors from the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It became one of the events people planned their December trips around.

The lawsuit

Coachella’s case argued that “Afrochella” traded on the name of its world-famous festival. Coachella had built one of the most valuable festival brands in the world, and protecting the name was a priority. The case drew attention in the African press, where some saw it as a big Western brand bullying a small African event, and others felt the name had always been too close.

AfroFuture

The organisers chose a new name, AfroFuture, with a message about Africa’s future. They argued that the festival’s identity came from its community and experience, not the name. The rebranded festival returned in December 2023 at El Wak and continued to draw large crowds.

Detty December

The festival is part of a wider phenomenon. “Detty December”, from the Pidgin word “detty”, meaning dirty, describes the weeks of parties, concerts, weddings and homecomings that fill Accra and Lagos every December. Hotels and flights fill up, prices rise, and diaspora visitors spend heavily. The season has become economically important for both cities, and it has also raised complaints from locals about rising prices.

What the story shows

The rename showed the power of global brands, and the resilience of African events that have built their own audiences. It also showed how important intellectual property has become for creative businesses on the continent, and how African entrepreneurs must protect their own brands as they grow.

Coachella kept its name. The crowd in Accra kept coming, under a new one.