28-YEAR-OLD Ivan Rwibutso founded Famemix with the aim to sell Rwandan music through its website – famemix.com. He started in 2017 with two other co-founders from Knowledge Lab (K Lab) who deal with the website’s protocols, innovation, and maintenance. The idea was to feature Rwandan artistes on the platform where visitors play or download music for free. In 2020 when Covid-19 hit and ruined artistes’ money-generating activities like concerts and shows, Famemix double-thought its existence and decided to add a sell option on the website. They recognised that Rwandan artistes were undervalued and suffering and yet they have invested a lot in music production. “We aimed at linking Rwanda-based artistes with those in the diaspora to sell and share music. We believed that there were fans in Rwanda who loved and would like to support diaspora musicians and vice versa,” Rwibutso says. “Nowadays, we provide artistes a platform to sell their songs. They set a price considering what fans can afford.” He says that a visitor can listen to a preview of 30 seconds and pay by Visa, PayPal or Mobile Money to get the whole song. Famemix has gained trust and recognition from Imbuto Foundation and Art Rwanda Ubuhanzi and has gotten funds from them through the Covid-19 recovery fund. Rwandans artistes who use the website have also given Famemix’s credibility a boost, Rwibutso says. He adds that the top artiste has so far earned Rwf100, 000 from visitors’ sales, adding that Famemix takes 20 per cent of the sales for non-upcoming artistes and 30 per cent for the upcoming ones who need extra promotion. Famemix’s great challenge is some artistes, especially famous ones, who do not understand the need and value of the platform. “They feel like the platform cannot help them because they already have a fan base. When we approach them, they say that we want to earn from them instead of seeing Famemix as an additional platform that can get them more sales,” Rwibutso says. “It’s also challenging to tell Rwandans to buy songs while they can get them for free on YouTube. But we are approaching and encouraging artistes that plan to release new songs, telling them to first put them on Famemix to make sales before releasing them on YouTube. “We also seek to approach the ones in charge of regulating radio and TV to set a policy that will make them stop playing Rwandan music for free unless they pay for them through our website or other websites. “It’s hard convincing people to buy Rwandan music when they can listen to it on the radio. We seek to address this issue because most artistes care about those who make them famous even though they are not making sales,” he adds. So far, Famemix has signed contracts with 17 artistes. They are planning stages as a reward depending on the popularity and audience’s votes on the platform. Rwibutso says that they seek to work with different music analysts and lovers. He reveals that they are also planning to feature poetry, videos and podcasts where the owners can sell them, adding that they want to make sure that Rwandan music is valued, and, thereafter, extend the website’s operation to the whole of East Africa. They work with artistes like Seyn, Uncle Austin, Ibra, D Blue, Zad, and Jumper. So far, they have uploaded 208 songs on the website. Rwibutso says that the website is visited by 87 to 150 people per day and in three months they get 6 to 12 sales depending on the songs uploaded. Famemix has also provided jobs to 15 employees in different domains like web translation, maintenance, public relations, and marketing. Views from users Hussinatu Bah, a student from African Leadership University (ALU) who is interning at Famemix, says that they have been supportive. “From the day I got here, I learned a lot including the value of ownership that inspired me to awaken my start-up business. In this paid internship, my job is to create a strategy to level up the Famemix brand and raise public awareness,” she says. Solomon Nsengiyumva, also known as Jumper says, “Famemix is like the future of the music industry in Rwanda. They also pay well on a bigger rate than others and can make an artiste earn from his work and as well as gain recognition.” Aimerance Zawadi, referred to as Zad, says, “Famemix is a very good platform to use for artistes in Rwanda because it helped me gain recognition not only in Rwanda but also among Rwandans worldwide. It is accessible from wherever one is located and there is hope that it will get a boost as many people keep using it.” For more information you can contact them via info@famemix.com or 0784478801
