Zimdancehall artists have been urged to embrace the use of technology to develop their careers as businesses at the recently held Zimdancehall Summit.
Oyos Music manager Nomsa Chikambi says Zimdancehall artists should embrace the use of the internet and stop giving out music for free.
Oyos Music is a local online music store where people can purchase local music via Ecocash and the artists are entitled to the money made from the sales.
To ensure transparency, artists sign up for their accounts on the Oyos Music website and they get access to the information on how their music is selling and how much they would have made.
“We have over 600 artists on Oyos Music currently and they increase with each day and when we counted Zimdancehall artists they were only 67,” said Chikambi.
“Most of them are upcoming artists, it is not the big names like the Winky Ds because they said they want to see where this Oyos Music is going before they join.”
Oyos Music works with both upcoming and established artists but most of the established artists are adamant for Oyos to sell their music.
“We work with all the artists but I don’t know if people don’t understand the concept of digital music or they just feel like they have made enough money not to care,” she said.
“Some people don’t want to bring their music and get us to sell for them and others say they have contracts with companies outside Zimbabwe that do not allow them to sell their music anywhere else but them.”
The use of technology has helped Zimdancehall artists to get exposure and market their works but they have failed to make profits due to free distribution of music.
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