Malawi music at a click

The revolution is on. Malawi musicians have intensified their presence on the information superhighway by opening up to a whole new world of promotion.

In the past, if Malawi music was to be downloaded from the Internet, it was only through the artists’ profiles on such social networks as MySpace. This meant people could only download the music if they knew that such and such an artist existed on that cyberspace spot.

Today, the artists share the platform with other international acts on iTunes, Amazon, Hulkshare, Reverbnation and other sites, where they can be spotted from a host of artists from other countries.

On the other hand, homegrown sites like malawi-music.com, bring the width and length of Malawi music, featuring up and coming artists alongside old timers who were prominent in an era where a mouse was nothing but a bubonic plague-bearing rodent, not a computer hardware component. The old timers at the site include Dr Daniel Kachamba and Saleta Phiri.

With a click, one can download Third Eye’s Ras ndi Yo at Reverbnation. Another click can take you to Piksy’s latest release, Unamata. The mouse-pointer then hovers over Armstrong’s Ukhale Wanga and when you are done, you can have Tigris’ Dreams. A few more songs, and you have a collection of the latest Malawian hits.

The danger

That, as some would have it, is the very danger of Internet music downloads. Much as more and more people can sample the latest music, others can reap the fruits.

Khumbo Munthali of Nde’feyo Entertainment, the label that is an umbrella for several artists, says while uploading music on the Internet helps to promote music, some unscrupulous people can reap where they did not sow.

“These are free songs and they get to many people instantly. It is much easier this way, since artists can’t produce promotional songs on CD for their fans. It would be expensive. The bad thing is that pirates take advantage of it and can download music from various artists and compile a CD or DVD which they sell,” said Munthali.

According to him, they have been uploading Maskal’s music on itunes and Amazon, where even non-Malawians are willing to buy the music.

For musician Fatsani Kalonda aka BlakJak of Wadya Iwe fame, people share the links with friends from across Malawi borders, which means Malawi’s musical appeal on the international scene is growing. The musician uploads his music on soundcloud.com and 1mwmusi.net.

No loyalties

“Through such sites, we get feedback from fans. One sad thing is that we don’t get any royalties since these are free sites. I also see it can kill people’s desire to get original CDs from artists, especially where an artist uploads the whole album,” said BlakJak.

For the Nyasa Guruz member, the musicians are using this revolutionary avenue since there is no official website to link up the world to Malawi music.

He observed: “I wish Cosoma [Copyright Society of Malawi], Musicians Association of Malawi or any other radio station had a site where people could upload and download at a fee. It would be a win-win situation.”

Sure way of self promotion

Music promoter and radio personality Edward Kankhomba feels the international trend is creeping into Malawi. He said the sites provide a platform not only for musicians, but even for bloggers, labels, magazines and other professionals in the industry to upload and share songs.

“This is a sure way to promote yourself. Artists must, however, not forget Facebook and YouTube if they are dreaming of expanding beyond the Malawi borders. This is the trend as big artists in the US, Jamaica and the UK use such sites to promote their music,” said Kankhomba.

And talking about YouTube, where artists upload their videos, musician Maskal says that is one of the means towards the ends of international recognition.

“Some of our songs are done in Chichewa, but for them to have an international appeal, we work an extra mile on the videos. Apart from iTunes and Amazon, YouTube is another fine spot,” said the Udalire star.

With the pros and cons coming with the trend, music producer Tapps Bandawe, says a musician’s success does not solely depend on how much music they upload, or how many people download or listen to it. A proper backup is needed.

“Artists must back up their music with good publicity, good videos, good collaborations with other artists. Most importantly, the uploads must lead to more revenue from shows as it doesn’t make sense to have millions of people downloading your music and none of them wants to see you perform. Besides, artists must build such strong brands as to compete on the market in sales,” said Bandawe.

As the mouse clicks continue, it is only evident: The future is here to stay and get better.