After Odinareh Bingwa's statement on deejays on local radio, I feel like I need to jump in. I am one person who likes making sound arguments so you know, I gotta do my own tiny background check. But issues like this do not need background check. You wanna tell me that out of all these coast studios non of the produce good music? We have Stantmastaz, the quality is incredible, we have Kelele records, international standards, Jungle Masterz Produces the best tunes,the likes of Dogo Richy and Lypso. You trynna say that of all the artists in Mombasa non of them has good music? Non has that creativity in them? You trynna say that we are all whack? Really? That's the excuse you will give us?
This is just disappointing I must say. You telling me that I'm complaining and I do not have fans. So how am I going to get my fans if you are going to feed us with Jamaican and Nigerian music. I have a Nigerian friend. And whenever we go out clubbing he feel so much at home because of the number of Nigerian music that will be played in the clubs. That guy has been in Kenya for 8 months, clubs 4 nights a week and he doesn't know a single Kenyan artist!
Last year during the Stylus DJ awards at Sarova Whitesands Last year, Ali B said that he had a hard time promoting his album in Tanzania because they do not support alien material on their media. Sauti Sol during their interview on The Trend with Larry Madowo, they said, they had been to South Africa, Nigeria....and in their club not even a single Kenyan music plays. But in Kenya, we play as much Nigerian, South African and Jamaican Music. That's why our industry is lugging behind. Diamond came just the other day and he has much money than Jua Kali who has been in the scene for long. Look at Ugandan artists man, their cars and houses....this is because they support their own.
View music as a single product like a phone. There are 3 major stages involved: Production, distribution, consumption. Lets break them down each at a time.
PRODUCTION
As phones are manufactured and assembled in their factories, so is music. Our factory is the studio, we are assembling the producers' beats and the composers' lyrics with the artists voice to make a final product, music. Some deejays claim that the music we produce is not of good quality, which is a lie and you all know that. I've talked about it already. If you do not believe, sample tracks from the above named studios and others then compare them with the quality ones you say. Note the difference.
DISTRIBUTION
The reason why you can purchase a phone at you nearest shop while it was produced in States, is because of the good distribution channels that were used. Music wise the distribution of this is crucial, because this links the artist to the fans. And this is where the deejays and media fall. It is the deejays who will distribute our music to the masses by playing us during their shows and places they go to. In our case here, deejays rather play Nigerian and Jamaican music, so what channel will the artists use?
CONSUMPTION
You become a consumer after you have purchased that phone from the shop, so in our case, the consumers are the fans. The consumers nature, they will consume whatever they are offered with, they rarely go out of their way to seek other products. They believe in what the distributors say.
Seeing all that, it is easier now to detect where the problem is. Most people who listen to radio stations or go out clubbing will not go out of their way to look for other music. They believe that the deejay will only play the best music, which is true. The problem is that, the consumers also think that, if the deejay does not play it, the track is definitely has a problem. Which in most situations that's not the case. So you can imagine what happens when our deejays play Nigerian, SA music. The consumers think Kenyans have no good music, but when they mistakenly hear our songs on their friends' phones, they go like "OMG why are you not on radio?".
I am concluding now. Deejays, we know there are whack artists and whack producers out there, at the same time there are good artists and producers out there. I don't expect any DJ to tell the likes of Odinareh, C-De, Petrooz, Ohms, that they have poor quality, that's bullshit, coz that music is quality. This is not about individual artists who want fame, if you are shallow minded you'll think it that way, but look deeper, it is about Kenyan music verses Alien music. In as much as you want to advance in your career and please the fans, you have a moral duty to the Kenyan music industry. In layman's language an trynna say don't you feel a little stupid when you are busy playing Nigerian Music in your Kenyan show, and your counterpart Deejay in Nigeria doesn't even know a single Kenyan artists?
To those deejays supporting local content, I salute you all, and we appreciate you for what you are doing. Thank you!
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