Entertainment of Thursday, 6 March 2014

Source: George Clifford Owusu - Beatwaves

Embrace Digital Marketing - Okyeame Kwame

One of Ghana’s reigning hiplife artistes, Okyeame Kwame, has urged Ghanaian musicians and other stakeholders in the music industry to explore digital avenues to boost the sale of their works on both local and international music markets.

Speaking to BEATWAVES in an interview, Okyeame who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of One Mic Entertainment said digital avenues including caller-ring back tunes were one of the many ways musicians could make money.

The Rap Doctor who is coming up with a whole new phase of musical album titled ‘African Connection’ stated that in Ghana today, distribution channels do not create the needed platform for music users to get direct access to music, adding that because musicians in Ghana do not get the needed platforms to market their works, they continue to lose a lot of revenue, making it difficult for them to make ends meet.

According to him, there are currently some issues in the music industry which cause musicians to lose a lot of revenue and one of such worrying issues was distribution.

“I say this because the existing distribution channels in the country do not create platforms for the music to find its patrons.”

He noted, “Distribution system for musical works keeps changing everyday and now the world has gone more digital and technological. This, therefore, means that the traditional way of distribution of musical works in the country is fast losing its control of the market and no longer as effective as it used to be; hence the need for a new system such as digital marketing and distribution.”

Okyeame said he was still working on his new album called ‘African Connection’ which features 16 great artistes from all over Africa.