Boomplay Kenya announce 1 million USD investment into Kenyan Music Industry
Boomplay, the largest music streaming and download service in Africa, hosted its first Music Forum on Tuesday, 21st of May, 2019 at Villa Rosa Kempinski, Nairobi on the themes ‘Focus on Digital Music Distribution and The Future is Streaming’.
Speaking at the forum, General Manager Boomplay Kenya, Martha Huro talked about changing trends in Production and Digital Distribution, weighing in on Boomplay’s current and future strategies. Huro proceeded to talk about Boomplay’s interest in helping to grow an industry that truly works and highlighted some issues faced by artistes, which affects the expected music release consistency.
Some of the issues highlighted are lack of finances and proper A&R, to which she announced that Boomplay would invest $1 Million US Dollars towards production and distribution of Kenyan Music. In a statement, she said that ‘’this will help to facilitate collaborations between Kenyan artists and other African acts across different regions and prompt the consistency of music releases in Kenya.”
Amongst other key stakeholders in music business, the Boomplay Artistes Forum was well attended by artistes, music producers, promoters, distributors and Boomplay executives: CEO, Joe He, Head of International Content Acquisition and Partnerships, Phil Choi, Director of Content Admin & Customer Service, Dapo Asekun and Global Head of Public Relations, Ms. Tosin Sorinola & many more.
The speakers at the forum weighed in on topics ranging from What Makes a Good Producer [Eric Musyoka], Intellectual Property, Publishing and Legal Protection [David Katee- IP Lawyer] to the role of Music Labels [John Andrews – GM AI Records Universal Media Group and Sam Mutuku - Digital & Production Manager East Africa].
Later in the day, legendary Kenyan artist, Nameless took on the artistes’ panel to discuss Music Piracy & Experience as a Kenyan artist, alongside fast-rising songstress Vivian, top gospel music acts, Evelyn Wanjiru & Bahati, with Pacho Entertainment honchos hit makers: Cedo & Naiboi.
The PR & Branding panel discussants, Anyiko Owoko [Founder Anyiko Public Relations] and Elizabeth Karuru [Head of Content Acquisition at Boomplay Kenya] discussed extensively, the importance of presenting a good brand image.
The Nairobi edition of Boomplay Artistes Forum, which was hosted by Willy M Tuva, is the start to a series of industry events by Boomplay that will hold across Kenya and beyond the region. All the forums will have a series of panel discussions integral to improving the music industry.
