Development of local music in our hands

AS the local music industry continues to register gradual progress especially in terms of quality and responsiveness from fans, it still leaves a lot to be desired. In other regional countries, like Uganda, corporate giants including telecoms like MTN, ARTEL, Orange, UTL among others, as well as non government organisations, support musicians and in return, artistes promote their activities through music. In Rwanda, however, many artistes are curtailed from reaching the same dizzying heights in their musical careers. Support to our musicians should be on the agenda of government and corporate companies operating in the country.Some of the challenges local artistes face is the fact that only a few people appreciate their music – and more often than not, their music is pirated.“The copyright for music production is very important and it can only be implemented if the government collaborates with artistes. With this, sales of our CDs and DVDs would help us improve our music careers,” says Shanel, a singer and actress.“However, in order for this to be achieved, artistes have to be serious about their music. In developed countries, the more the song hits, the more money the artiste gets.”Much as everyone has a role to play in this industry, the government has a major role to promote the industry, because, nowadays, artistes have a big influence on the youth, as well as society – and they also contributes to the economy of the country.“Artistes are also partly to blame for causing the industry to lag because they don’t make their music available in the stores. If possible, every supermarket and big shop should be selling those CDs,” says Uncle Austin, an upcoming artiste. “Rwandans in the Diaspora wish to buy our music– but they can’t access it. Artistes also hardly make use of the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube – to promote their music.”Almost all artistes enter into the music business with the same mindset as that of searching for a regular job. This means they expect to make a livelihood solely through performances or releasing music albums.That said, artistes must also not only consider themselves as entertainers, but they should approach it in a business-like manner by selling their music to music companies, record labels, promoters and fans.Business acumen is demonstrable in a number of ways. For example, Kitoko advertises for a big telecom giant, Tigo. MTN Rwanda has been supporting the Salax Awards since its inauguration four years ago. And Bralirwa, the country’s leading brewery, through its flagship brand Primus, has been supporting local music, sports and the ongoing Primus Guma Guma SuperStar competition and the Primus Football League. If more artistes would explore more avenues to make an income and ends meet, it would enable them to give attention to production of quality music.

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Development of local music in our hands