Ever since US-based singer Meddy released his song ‘My Vow’ a few days ago, many people have expressed their different opinions on how the song got so many YouTube views in a short period. While some said that the artist could be buying views, another section believes that the singer earned them. Others have been neutral about the matter. “I cannot condone with any artist who would do that. I believe music is a business and some musicians might go as far as buying YouTube views with the aim of strategically positioning themselves in the eyes of users of those platforms, no matter how popular musicians maybe, with an intention of raising their market value. I believe fans should be concerned with how good the music is and support quality music,” says Tom Close, Rwandan musician. The New Times’ Ines Rutayisire Umurerwa spoke to a cross-section of big fans of the Rwandan music industry to get their views on this. Iris Usanase, customer care executive at ISON experience I think they are not doing anything bad wrong buying views. Actually, it is a good thing if they are doing so, it is a great promotion they are doing for their career, and everyone that is doing business has their own strategies to reach success, if it is bringing them profit it is fine and if they choose not to have fake views it is okay also, as long as they want their careers to grow. Jean Damour Uwimana, Content creator I strongly disagree, fake views can undermine the music industry and the future of music in Rwanda, but it is not every musician that buys views. Most of them do that for YouTube to show that they are popular and loved but remember music it is not only about YouTube, this means selling copies and records will be under manipulation. And for the music industry in Rwanda, it can be violated because it takes away the studio’s credibility. Didier Honore Abimana, student at Mount Kenya University of Rwanda In my opinion, I consider it cheating because it shows that there is a big number of fans or viewers yet in reality, there isnt. The greatest thing that they can do is collaborate with journalists (media houses in general) to share their music. Rwandan musicians also need to help each other, when an artist releases a song, the fellow artists should help them to share on their platforms, this can boost Rwandan musicians’ viewers on YouTube. Irene Umurerwa, student at the University of Rwanda/Nyagatare I think its kind of unethical, it shows that the artist is not having enough confidence, an artist who buys views might be clarifying themselves as not good enough, and they cant put much effort into their work because they know anytime they can buy those views, so no progress will be seen in their career. The best that can be done is to support each other and not put each other down.
