Friday, 18 November 2011
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
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?
Monday, 7 November 2011
Beba Beba: Ma3
I happen to be part of this awesome band called Ma3. Why Ma3? Well, I could give a profound, 'politically correct response'...but we borrowed the name off the ubiqituous and often inescapable public means of transport in Kenya...All across Africa, Ma3s-whatever name they have- are part of what defines present-day culture. That's what we hope our music will do/is doing.
Style of music is Afro-pop. We had a lot of fun making this album, and we are more than excited to share the record with you. Find all the details of the album launch here. We sure hope that you can come out and share this special moment with us,if in Nairobi city this weekend. Have a listen and let us know what you think. Catch up with us on Facebook, Twitter, Reverbnation and on our website.
Ingia ndani ya Ma3!
(Come aboard the Ma3)
Friday, 28 October 2011
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Friday, 7 October 2011
Let's Stick To What We Do Best, Shall We?
This post will be followed by one on why/how musicians become divas. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that it sometimes is the only way to get things done to your satisfaction. Many a time we are screwed over, by event organizers, sound engineers et al...The compensation? An apology. What good does a half-hearted 'pole' do for a musician's brand? It is the musician who gets the backlash for a gig gone bad...anyway, more on that later.
Joe Were, aka Jay Dabliu,a gigging musician, aptly retells the story of a recent gig run by people who should otherwise stick to what they do best. It is high time we called out these bad habits. Here goes:
"So this is my first ever blog post and unfortunately I have been driven to write this due to nightmarish circumstances that every artiste/musician dreads in the hands of a “professional” service provider.
First of all, a little background on myself. I am a keyboardist and have played for various artists as well as Provided backline equipment (That would be Instruments, mics, cabling e.t.c) and also onsight Audio recording solutions. So I tend to believe I have a little know how and experience on the stage and how to solve problems as they arise.
Now that that’s out of the way…here we go.
Enter Wednesday 5th October, and I was playing with Just-A-Band, a popular Electronic Music band that just concluded a recent tour of New York, even getting rave reviews from the likes of Will-I-Am and Drum Magazine. So after the New York experience, this would be the first “back home” gig at the famous Tribe Hotel. The sound Provider for the event…Home Boyz Entertainment.
We get the call to soundcheck at 5pm on Tuesday the 4th…and we arrive 30 mins before…just to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be…plus I was carrying my pretty bulky Yamaha S90XS keyboard (just because I prefer using my own settings and am familiar with the sounds). When we get there…there is no evidence of any instrument setup going on…6pm…ummm, nope…7pm…still waiting…8pm…oh cool…a guitar amp has been put near the stage….9pm…no…just the guitar amp…so we decide to leave around 9:30pm and reschedule the soundcheck for the next day.
Wednesday, 5th October D-Day. We arrive somewhat late (a half hour late) for our scheduled soundcheck time of 4pm due to traffic. So we would imagine since we had an hour at least of slotted soundcheck time. We get there and the Instruments are on stage but no cabling has been done…so we wait…5pm…no…6pm…ummm, no. 7pm, I got impatient and decided I’m going to setup my keyboard myself.
About 8 Home Boyz guys in “Crew” T-shirts walk around with walkie talkies looking busy but if you really follow one of them, he’s literally just walking around. So I ask one of them to point me to the person in charge of setting up the instruments as we were supposed to sound check about 3 hours ago. He points me to one of them and I go to him and ask him where I should set up and which channel I should use and what not.
Bear in mind, on this night we had pretty minimal equipment by Just-A-Band standards…we just had to hook up the keyboard and a laptop which was hooked up to a loopmaster. We basically needed only THREE channels (Stereo output from the laptop and a mono feed from the Keyboard)
The main engineer asks me if I have a jack to jack cable. WAIT A MINUTE…even I, who doesn’t do this on a day to day basis, do not leave home without a jack to jack cable. If it’s not in the boot of my car, it’s in my shoulder bag if I’m not driving….It’s the sim card in your phone, it’s the water in your rice…it’s the hour hand of cables as far as instruments go…Home Boyz Entertainment did not have Jack to Jack cables.
I of course at this point was tired of waiting for them to sort the setup out so I obliged and went for the jack to jack cable…I get back and he asks if I had a D.I… at this time…jumping into the nearby pool with my clothes on seemed like a very welcome idea because my blood is boiling…
So I asked him if they received the tech rider that was sent to them earlier the previous week…he said he didn’t know…I asked him who would know…he didn’t know…I walk off to get my D.Is from the car…
So they hook up the laptop and they don’t have any feed on the main mixer… after fiddling with buttons and knobs they ask me if I have headphones! HEADPHONES!!!!! Mr, sir on the mixer…how were you going to monitor your mix in the first place? No problem…another trip to the parking lot to get my headphones from the car. At this rate, I’m so fit from the trips on the stairs at the Tribe, I think I might enroll for the next marathon.
It’s now about 10pm…no soundcheck…and we’re about to be called on stage…(well, we’re already on stage trying to sort the sound) so we decide since there’s no way we’ll use the laptop…we’ll play it full LIVE. Perfect…this is what I do baybie…let’s go. I, the client, am telling HomeBoyz, the service provider how to turn on Phantom power so that the keyboard feed can be received on their mixer…after fiddling with buttons they eventually find the right one…which I had showed earlier anyway.
So we kick off our performance with pretty poor sound quality with just the keyboard, drums and bass guitar!
Right after the first verse…the keyboard is MUTED….apparently they have no idea the keyboard cannot be heard…as I’m signaling the sound engineer and he looks right at me with a blank stare. The drummer and bassist do a pretty good job covering for the rest of the song…and as the song is about to end…the sound engineer comes onto the stage to ask if we’re OK…and I ask him what he thinks…and he goes like, “Oh, the keyboard is off?”
And that is why, ladies and gentlemen, HomeBoyz Entertainment should stick to doing what they do best..DJing!!"
Signed,
Gigging Musician
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Benefit of Playing Free Gigs....
The following are words from one of the most respected musicians around...and for him to even say there's benefits to playing free gigs,well, we have no choice but to bite our tongues, rub our eyes and listen/read. I presented the scenario that is free gigs, often packaged as charity gigs (Bend Over:Scenario Two). The sum total of my experiences,and those of 'younger musicians' pale in comparison with this gentleman's. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I present to thee Eric Wainaina's story. Indeed, he has a thing or two to say on the Life Of A Gigging Musician. (I especially love his intro to this post...:-D)
"Next year, 2012, will be my 20th year as a professional musician. Believe it or not, to date, I still get asked to play free gigs. For some of you this might be shocking because you don’t believe that artists should ever be paid in the first place. If that’s your view please visit some other website. 
Requests for free gigs come in many forms. Maybe the organizer genuinely has no money, has a limited budget or is just plain greedy. As a policy when we get an enquiry about a gig we avoid blind quoting i.e., a potential client calls up and says ‘How much for Eric to come and play just 2 songs?’ We like to hear more about the gig so that we can tailor our quote according to the needs of the client and the value that we attach to the service. Very often potential clients will call to implore you to ‘just play 2 songs’. First off this 2-song vibe is a joke. Really it’s not a matter of how many songs one plays- one still has to get there, sit through most of the function, listen to the MC crack some really tired jokes, sit in the backstage area and eat the food reserved for ‘crew’ which is generally the worst drivel ever, do the 2 songs in question, get asked for an encore and still have to get oneself home. And if the artist is backed by a band as well that just ups the costs.
The points to ponder are the following:
Does the free gig fit into your vision as an individual? Or Do I like you?
Do you believe in the cause that the organization espouses? Take for example we play a gig in Kariobangi for an organization called Education For Life (EFL) pretty much annually. There was a time when the same organization had put together 4 gigs for us to play in a month at schools bordering or in the slums in and around Eastlands. I played these gigs for free. For me, EFL is playing a huge role in keeping kids from underprivileged neighbourhoods away from the vicious cycle of crime, despondency and disease through mentoring in behaviour change, nurturing of talent, etc. That’s an organization whose ethos is appealing to me. So check! A free gig for as long as they need it.
Can the organization/ individual pay for the costs of the gig? Or can we play ‘at cost’?
Like I mentioned earlier and as I’m sure you’ve observed though your own dealings there will always be costs associated with playing at a gig, even if you’re an A Capella group with no costs for instrumentalists. You still have to get there and people still have to eat. Very often when I’m faced with the ‘play for free’ dilemma I tell the client that we can play at cost. I.e. Pay my band, pay our cab fares, pay for the PA, pay for rehearsals, pay my management company (a nominal fee because at the end of the month the watchman still has to be paid). This allows me to play the gig for a cause that I believe in or an individual that I like (or owe a favour) without burning my fingers in immediate and future seen and unforeseen costs.
Is there any publicity/ future relationships/ future business value? Or what’s in it for me?
OK let’s be honest. While altruism is a good motive to give handouts on the street or at the traffic lights it doesn’t pay the bills and you will be auctioned! Another good measure for the free gig is what you stand to gain. If the CEO of a blue chip company calls you up and says, ‘Hey play this gig. It’s a last minute thing and we have no money,’ don’t sit there thinking ‘Yeah right! You grossed 100 Billion last year and after tax surely you can pay me 100K from your net, dude.’ If it’s the third time he’s asking that year then maybe you can raise a red flag, or an orange one at least. Very often it is plausible that you’re being called at the desperate attempt of an individual whose just trying to spice up the annual Retailers Thank You Dinner, which has all the excitement of a Budget Speech, and really there’s no money for entertainment. You have to remember that the financial director who has to sign off on the gig is a graduate of the College of Boredom and sees no need to breathe let alone dance. In this instance it helps to ask yourself whether any long-term business can be garnered from this interaction. Maybe you can sell some CDs. Maybe you can get into a genuine personal friendship with the individual who called and who’ll be more than happy to be consulted when you tackle the impossible animal that is, say, distribution. Maybe they’ll like you so much that next time when there is a budget they’ll call you because you did them a favour last time.
The publicity thing always gets thrown at you. It happens to me at least three times a year and like I said I’m heading into my 20th year in music and I am a household name, whatever that means. But truthfully when I began my career in 1992 with the A Capella group 5 Alive we played our first 2 years gratis. In fact because we mostly played at churches when we first got offered money we turned it down saying that we were doing it for the Lord. This is allowed when you are 19 and living under your parents’ roof and drinking their tea and eating their bread. In the words of Cedric the Entertainer, ‘I’m a grown ass man, now’. While money isn’t everything it is something. But publicity is still a valid reason to do free shows as I learned with 5 Alive. There was a time we were doing 5 or 6 engagements a weekend. We’d play 2 church weddings on a Saturday, probably a wedding reception or a Church Youth Meeting. Sunday would roll around and we’d do 3 services. Within 2 years we were widely known. Of course this was before the proliferation of commercial radio stations in Kenya. Nowadays if you have a song which falls into the tastes of the programme controller (PC) you’ll be played. Very often though the PC will choose songs that sound like the other songs already being played on their and other stations. So if you don’t fit into their palette, which can sometimes be very narrow, you cannot lose by playing the ‘publicity gig’. It’s how you get known.
So good luck with the free gigs. Weigh it and decide. Never just throw it out. As always it is better to play than not to."
Be sure to check out Eric Wainaina's blog for some very hilarious posts on music and his wide travels,(bona fide Life Of A Gigging Musician) and catch up with him on twitter and facebook.
Signed,
Gigging Musician.
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