Musicians offer their songs to the highest bidder


Written by Louise Umutoni
Page 1 of 3Fed up with not earning enough money from their music, artists now have decided to sell it to the highest bidder.
In world as competitive as ours, everyone is looking out for anything that they can sell to earn an extra buck. Gone are the days when people believed in providing services for the people merely for their comfort.
The days when Rwandan music was meant pacify or soothing people, when Cecile Kayirebwa’s voice rang out from every household at no cost at all. The days when clergy were not the wealthiest men and foot balers played because of the love for the game.
Music style has changed in Rwanda. What started with “ikinimba”, a traditional folk dance that narrates the epic stories of Rwandan classical heroes, has now been modified to resemble that of the western world.
We now have local artists singing R&B, reggae, raga and hip hop. One might say that Rwandan music is merely an imitation of western music, but Rwanda has its own inventions like Rafiki’s choga style. However much as Rwandan artists might imitate western styles of singing, there is one thing that they have failed to adopt.
Rwandan artists have until now failed to sell their music, and for the public piracy is often the only way to get the songs. In Rwanda, most artists do not believe they can sell their music and earn a living from it, like other artists even in neighboring countries do.
“Here in Rwanda artists do not profit from their music at all; instead, the owners of different studios sell our music and earn a lot of money from it,” complained Miss Jojo, a founder member of Rwanda United Musicians (RUM), a group of founded by and comprising of local artists. This group was instigated by Miss Jojo, Family Squad and Kigali Boys (KGB). Its aim is to create a real music industry in Rwanda, where artists can live from their music.
Disorganized
“Our plan is to sell our music to the highest bidder, who will then have to distribute it and make his own profits from it,” said Gaston Rwangwa, popularly known as Skizzy of the KGB group. According to him, Rwandan music is very marketable as the studio people have been earning millions from it.
“People say that Rwandan music is not marketable, but that’s not true; it’s just that it is sold in a disorganized manner. We hear that these people are sending up to 500 CDs of our music to countries like Belgium an Canada, and yet we are not even earning a cent from this,” Skizzy complained. “Music is not for amusement only; it’s business, and we artists need to exploit it.”
Rwangwa says that they intend to make this possible by offering the distributors the exclusive rights to the distribution of their music. They are starting with an album called RUM Flavor, comprising of three songs from each party and three video clips, Tukabyine by Miss Jojo, Alashalamye by KGB and Tuvekumihanda by Family Squad.
The songs on the album will be Miss Jojo’s Mbwira, Tukabyine and Weekend. Family Squad contributes Lonely, Zuena and Tuvekumihanda, while KGB brings in Zunguza, Wabikulahe and Alashalamye.
“We all got some new songs and a few hits; we showed them to some possible bidders on recently, and we are waiting to cut a deal,” Nazil of Family Squad said.
He hopes to fetch up to 5 million francs, although he realizes it might go down to 3 million because they are not getting a good response from potential buyers. “We recognize it’s a bit difficult for most people to take such a risk, but we intend to help them by curbing anyone who selling our music illegally,” he pointed out.
“We want to become professional like all other artists, and get copyright for our music so that people can get it in the appropriate way,” he said, adding that they always wanted to start selling their music but it was only recently, with government intervention, that they were able to go through with it.
“We took a report to the police and they escorted us to studios which we knew were selling our music illegally, and we confiscated their property. It was not until they paid us 2.5 million francs in compensation that we gave back their property,” Nazil explained.
Do it yourself
When asked if they are afraid of losing their market, Miss Jojo said that everything is a struggle, and they have to set an example so that the rest can follow. “If you want anything done properly, you’ve got to do it yourself,” Jojo emphasized. “We have a fortune in front of us and we need to use it to everyone’s benefit.”
Studio owners, for their part, feel they cannot take such a risk as they are not sure that nobody else will get hold of the music and sell it. They believe that Rwanda is not yet ready for such a drastic change.
Nasif Muhammad, owner of a music studio in Nyamirambo, says that the artists are being unfair as they are charging extreme sums of money for their music, yet the people are not willing to pay for it.
“First, they need to get a huge outreach if they want to sell there music at such prices” Nasif advised.
However Miss Jojo argued that musicians cannot get a big fan base if their music is not up to standard, and that is not possible if they have no money to improve on it. “We need inspiration and this comes from benefits we get. I have a degree and I can work and get paid, but I want to do music and concentrate on it.”