Rap extraordinaire Okyeame Kwame has finally launched his current album ‘Clinic’. The launch of the album coincides with his migration to digital music distribution channel.
The digital music distribution is about moving distribution of music from the traditional physical CD distribution to a digital platform so that people with Smartphones can download for a fee and enjoy whiles musicians make money from these downloads.
The proliferation of computers, smart phones and other digital gadgets to a large extent has curtailed the purchase of cassettes and CDs of Ghanaian musicians. It is so bad that now Ghanaian musicians only recoup their investments in making of an album from shows that they get to perform.
So when an artiste gets a hit and he doesn’t get shows to perform, he’s left to scratch his head and think of how to recover his investment or count his lose. The drastic drop in cassettes and CDs sales has folded up lots of recording labels; it has rendered many musicians paupers as well as killed the dreams of many artistes.
The drop has recently hit the West as music lovers move to the world of downloading compared to purchasing a physical CD – which is also the reason why digital music sales has seen unbelievable growth and paying dividends.
With the sale of cassettes and CDs dropping drastically, the rap Doctor has migrated from the conventional music distribution channel [that is known to Ghanaians] to digital distribution which will help him to make some money from his hard work.
What this means is that, songs on his current album ‘Clinic’ would be accessed on MTN radio by dialling 1303 to listen to the songs on the album and to download them onto your phones at a cool cost of 95 pesewas per song.
Part of the proceeds from the downloads would be used to support the ‘Okyeame Kwame Foundation’ which over the years has organised free Hepatitis B nationwide screenings.
In an interview with GhanaCelebrities.Com, the rapper, real name Kwame Nsiah Apau said his migration from the traditional distribution channels to the digital distribution is because even though the trend of music distribution has seen a facelift, the distribution channels in Ghana remain the same, this he believes retards the progress of the artiste.
“It is the problems created by the triangular distribution channels that already exist in Ghana,” he told GhanaCelebrities.Com indicating that, if a music lover doesn’t go to any of the triangular distribution channels to get a copy of CDs of any artiste, this means that, the person downloads it free on the internet and forgets about owning a copy of any album.
He believes now is the time for musicians to bring their music closer to the consumers hence the need for every Ghanaian musician to think of the digital music sales.
The Triangular Distribution is how cassettes and CDs have for years been sold from the three traditional domains [systems] in Ghana. These three distribution outlets include ‘Katamanto’ in Accra, ‘Kejetia’ in Kumasi and ‘Abeiku Container’ in Takoradi.
Katamanto caters for markets in the Greater Accra, Central and Eastern regions of Ghana. Kejetia takes care of the Ashanti Region, Brong Ahafo and the three Northern regions. Whiles Abeiku Container captures the market in Takoradi and its surrounding environs.
“I do not mean to say that my works could no longer be accessed through the aforementioned triangular system of distribution. I am rather adding to the existing, to ensure that lots of music enthusiast and my fans in the country get easy access to my songs wherever they find themselves in the country.” He told journalist.
The ‘Clinic’ album is masterpiece of 12 songs, including ‘Faithful’ which has so far proven to be the favourite of many music-lovers in the country and abroad. It was produced by some of the finest in the industry such as good old Zapp Mallet, Appietus, Jay Q, Richie, Kaywa, Morris D’Voice, Oteng and Victor Dey, to mention a few.
It also features all the sensational song birds in the industry; Irene Logan, Efya, Bertha, Raquel, Vera [of Diamonds] and a men crew of Kesse [of Project Fame], Edwin [of Soule Black] and many others.