Comments on: Starting An Online Record Label

By: Philip Roy

Philip Roy — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:27:17 +0000

Back in 2003 one of the top acts in Kenya had a online distribution deal and worked out fine till they were sent abroad for a tour then all things feel apart.
In 2004-08 ,two distribution companies were started during this time frame by a few Kenyans based abroad including myself and they both failed mainly because of the lack of foresight on the part of the artists who we were distributing their music at the time.In short we gave up on fighting the good fight …counted our losses and moved on…planning to fight another day,with new strategies.
So fast forward to 2012 and the internet dynamics have changed mainly due to iTunes and the Apple computer products not to mention the numerous PC/cellphone based platforms used to download and hear music.Then came music publishing and mechanical rights issues online.All have created a window of opportunity for those who can understand the new dynamics and for those artists and musician who are humble enough to start small and partner up on projects to push their music online and through mechanical publishing deals.
Another thing is there are two approaches to Distributing and marketing music in Africa/South America as compared to the rest of the globe, and this are affected by the purchase power in this two continents which is very low, hence the commodity pricing and methods of delivery, have to be different from what one would do in the west.
So strategy :
1. you can use the true and tested way of the West by using various avenues of distribution online and setting up one site bringing them all together or marketing the individual streams of each site.
2. come up with a more cheaper and creative way of doing distribution through Apps and simple mobile web applications. Hence making the product to cost as low as Kshs30 per download.
Or a third and better option combine both elements of the two and make a high-bred system.

By: jacq chumo

jacq chumo — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:14:04 +0000

impressive i must say….though the internet is full of challenges this is one rough sea that people with passion for local music and entrepreneurial minds will be willing to surf in. the idea sounds practical in the sense that most of the Kenyan youths are almost entirely on the internet 24/7; so the market is definitely there. But this presents another challenge, most of our local content is of inferior quality compared to that of the Americans, Europeans and close home west Africa and south Africa. which are readily available on the world wide web. This might impact negatively on the pricing and also on preference. as such, to be successful, our musicians must be willing to put in more work and compose creatively. I believe this should be the starting point.

By: Timothy Clark

Timothy Clark — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:16:13 +0000

i truly believe in what you are saying but remember, all that money that would have to go into it. well, then again it might not have to be hardly any money as it would be online. it would be all most free. you could use webs. http://www.webs.com
so that would be just about free.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:23:53 +0000

Send me mail at paultitude@gmail.com

By: kihato

kihato — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:00:09 +0000

sawa-am ready.yesterday i was at a meeting and was suprised to know that the guys organizing the forum were Nigerians and guess what their aim was(is)to penetrate the east african market with their ecommerce ideas

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:15:41 +0000

Thanks for the insightful article. Think about joining Paul and I in starting something to seize this opportunity.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:31:40 +0000

Sounds good, ill give more info soon

By: Kihatto

Kihatto — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:23:26 +0000

Wa! We seem to be thinking on the same line .Is there anyone out there ready to know and reap from operating an online record label .With over 1/2 million kenyans on facebook searches related to kenyan music rising (kikuyu music term alone has over 17000 searches in january alone the time to act is know.Hope to share with readers some fascinating details on how lucrative this market is

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:25:17 +0000

Expect an email soon

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:48:18 +0000

I thought of the idea last year in October, and Ive already started developing it. Its at 60%. So how about we team up and do this?