Reality of Kenyan music industry.A hit and hype doesn;t guarantee you money...

There is this notion that just because msanii ako na hit kenya mfuko iko sawa…Mziki majanga Kenya…Go to you tube and listen to Daddy Owen’s interview saying there is a time he had 5 hits at the same time na alikua anashindwa kulipa keja…That’s when he decided to do more mature music and dumped the so called bangers that were not helping him financially

Eti music?

sijaona hio interview but pia hao ma celeb hujibeba “kubwa” sana huko 08-10 huko the guy alikua anaishi nyumba ya 4 bedrooms, with no guaranteed source of income especially music its bound to happen

Huna kakitu but wanaexpect uwe na ride kali, ufly first class, kufake kila kitu. Ni hard sana kuwa artist…

I used to moonlight as a music producer in my younger years- even gave you konyagi connoisseurs a couple of headbangers
and I can tell you for free that the entertainment sector in the 254 is one big joke. Since people stopped buying physical CDs and went fully digital, the
business has been struggling. The high noon for music was circa 1999; when music pirate site Napster entered into the internet. After hiyo
it was downhill coz nobody was gonna keep spending $20 on a CD that you could stream free online. Alafu uongeze fruity loops na ProTools in the mix utaelewa why music is a reserve for kids like ethic, no real grown ass man can be caught dead f###ng with kenyan artists.

In 2015 after campo I was squatting in this 2 b/room hovel ya 15k in Doonholm with my campus buddy. I was shocked to learn that
Khaligraph one of the biggest stars out of the Jamhuri lived in my neighborhood. Na ukiskia machocha instagram unaeza fikiria jamaa
ni $ millionaire.

Bure kabisa

what about live shows? I know South African artists make lots of money via live shows and endorsements

Kweli sana live shows kama ile ya Koroga na safaricom jazz zinaweza. Shida ni Kenyans don’t support such unless a foreign artist is headlining. We devalue local stuff sana and fawn like little kids at anything from ‘majuu’. Guys can’t chuck just 2k to attend a sauti sol concert but are happy to fork out upwards of 10k to see a whack Davido show…

Then there is the 360 deal where record companies skim the cream from any promotion an artist does. Sema TV ads, social media
promotions, IG endorsements, live shows etc. Yaani the deal( advance they give you to jump start your ‘career’) is just a loan that the
promoters must recoup before you get paid.

All said, music today is a dead end career unless you are in it just for the love

Wasanii wengi Kenya wanapewa dough na mashuga mums and dads

Si naona kama Khaligraph amemake…video ziko juu

@mikel can you pay 2k to go and watch the singer jumps on stage. And yell to the DJ nipe track 3 and starts to lip sync.

Lakini aki na ringtone, akothe, sauti sol, jaguar etc are doing ok ama Kenyan music ni akina Nani.

Ringtone… Wizi wa Mashamba… Jaguar… Insurance Fraud… Wash wash… Akothee… Rich baby daddy… Sauti Sol… Great mzungu management

Khali aliponea coke studio alafu anakuanga ambasaddor wa Monster Energy and he has many live shows. Bure kutegemea ati kuuza music hakuna mahali utaenda.

The reason why Elani is on its deathbed

Very very few musicians become rich from music, hata jayz wealth has very little to do with music, the latter just gives you a platform, or helps one create a brand that they then use in whatever way they choose to make money, si hata Messi na Ronaldo are paid more through non football sources.

The entertainment industry is mostly about endorsements, sponsorships and the likes.

The developers of napsters started the downfall of traditional physical mediums. People in music industry walizubaa sana when they finally killed napsters. Na juu hawa watu walikuwa wanalala Apple waliweza kupenya by starting online music selling services in itunes na hapo apple walikula viserious juu wase wengi wanapenda kudownload. Even in USA and Europe kuuza physical albums haileti doe mingi like in the past many artists rely on endorsements and live shows.

Lakini kaligraph anakaa ako na pesa mob sana

Si doh mob vile unaimajin. Ni vile tu he owns a rangerover which huna. But investments, zero! In 5 years huyu jamaa atakuwa irrelevant na arudi msoto kama akina kalamashaka et al.

Kendi a cute musician alikuwa anaishi bedsitter, but owned a car. Those are the fucked up calculations these musicians do to intimidate you

People in this thread are very old school and live in the arena when a Dj making continue scratching noises on a CD was fashionable,you do not need CD sales to make good money in music,If your YouTube Channel has over 100k viewers and your videos gets constant viewers you can live comfortably,YouTube will pay you from Ad revenue,Add this to some shows especially with corporates,shows in other parts of the country and abroad,royalty payments by MSCK et al, product endorsements on social media and being a brand ambassador,skiza tunes and if you cross over album sales on I-tunes which can get buyers all over the world,all these sources of revenue,new generation Kenyan musicians are doing better than previous generations,Sauti Sol are making millions from their brand,if you have good management and you manage your brand well,you can make good money in music ,unless you sign a bad contract