Digital Music Distribution: Are We Willing To Embrace It?

I hope this post will be more of a discussion that yields fruit and proposes a way forth.

 

We have embraced tech in our everyday lives; money transfer, bill payments...and it's made our lives a whole lot easier. There is no shortage of documentation on app developments and competitions, all aimed at tapping into the connectivity and opportunity that the mobile phone has presented. Now, the music industry hasn't been left behind on the tech front, with iTunes Music Store as a benchmark success. And with that has come digital distributors such as TuneCore and CD Baby,SoundCloud and Reverbnation (who recently ventured into the distribution business), AWAL UK and Overtone in South Africa, who distribute to various online music stores, among them iTunes. 

In the US, digital distribution seems to have been embraced and is the success claim for many an artiste, primarily via iTunes downloads.

Whilst these services are accessible to any music lover, they aren't necessarily customized for our market(ie Africa). Reverbnation,for instance, is a platform that most musicians have embraced, and use to create a basic online profile,(call it the Facebook for musicians...lol). Tunecore delivers music to the Nokia store,whose African reach is limited to South Africa.

Physical CDs acquisition tends to be another logistical nightmare altogether, and in this digital era, it may not be the most convenient option,not in a world where a song becomes a hit overnight, yet shipping isn't as easy.

That leaves torrents as the only other option for us to acquire music from our favourite 'international' artists. True?

Now, closer home. I'm yet to come across a digital content distributor operating across the continent.(Massive opportunity if done well....could do a lot to curb piracy, and some of us can get decent salaries off our craft/vocation...) I've had the pleasure of sitting in on brainstorming sessions on digital content (primarily music) distribution proposals. Here in Kenya, two startups: PewaHewa and Hewa have proposed a solution to digital distribution. Yet to fully understand how Hewa works, but PewaHewa makes use of MPESA,Airtel Money and YuCash to purchase one's favourite music, upon which a link to the song(s) is sent to your email address. 

 

Pewa Hewa
        

 

  
Hewa
   

Has Africa been left behind on the music and tech front?

As an artist, this novelty sounds very appealing. It reduces the headache of mass producing CDs, of smooching retailers to carry your music and pay you in good time, or having to chase every Akamba bus to deliver the CD to an eager fan in Mombasa or Kakamega as a last resort. DIY(Do It Yourself) Music Distribution is something many musicians are having to look into because the 'systems' in place seem to do nothing more than abuse our art.

All the tech-savvy people I know can go on and on about apps developed to meet many other needs, but when it comes to music, it's a whole other story. Having recently released an album, and (thankfully) there being a demand for it across the city,country and even continent(woohoo!), we are almost spending sleepless nights trying to figure out how to satiate the urgency with which the album is requested! The Ma3 album for instance, is available on iTunes and Amazon for those outside Africa. Yet the interesting thing is that people want the physical copy of the album. While that is all good, (definitely a good dilemma)...it's a logistical nightmare. We put the album online for everyone to listen (hoping that come the time to sell, digital would be the primary preference). But not so the case! Make no mistake, we are very grateful that the product we've put out there is that desirable! 

The question begs, are we, as musicians and music lovers, willing to embrace to embrace technology's solutions to the problem at hand? As a musician, I have a product to get out to the market. As a music consumer, I want to get access to the product as soon as possible, and to my satisfaction. Basic supply and demand chain? Not so! As it turns out, demand entails tangibility as I'm learning, at least as far as music goes. Fans want autographed copies of records, and it would seem that digital distribution doesn't offer that? 

But what if, as an artist, I put up my album artwork/inlay on my website for free download? 

As a social media evangelist/strategist in the Kenyan music industry, it takes all I've got not to pull out my dreadlocks trying to figure out this quagmire!

 

 

@NiNanjiraNanjira Sambuli

Goodness me!!! there really is no embracing digital music purchase/distribution is there? everyone wants a physical CD copy! woi!

The response(s) to this tweet are the inspiration behind this post/conversation. I'd love nothing more than to ensure that every music lover of the music in my hands gets to it in good time, whether in Mtwapa or Munich! But what I desire even more, is to get this to every fan in the most convenient way possible! This convenience? Digital music distribution.

So the question doth beg? Are we willing to embrace digital music distribution? If so, what do we need to do, as musicians and music lovers? What are the problems that this novelty presents, and what are the possible solutions? For musicians: could digital distribution be a means of curbing piracy by meeting demand in good time? For music lovers: could this be a means of propelling Africa's musical talent onto the world platform? We have propelled the innovation behind some of our most treasured applications/tech startups, why should we not do it for our art?