Firm set to sell Kenyan music online

• Fans will pay through Zap and M-pesa for downloads

Kenyan musicians can now sell their music online and receive their payments through mobile cash platforms.

A local online store has been opened to serve local artistes, who have been plagued by poor distribution channels in the country and abroad.

The artistes can now place their music in the online store, pewahewa.com, for their fans to select and complete purchase through M-pesa or Zap money transfer platforms.

“Pewahewa.com has opened musicians to a whole new world of music distribution,” said David Kuria, the business development manager of Pewahewa Music Limited during the shop’s launch on Thursday night at a Nairobi hotel.

“We seek to empower local musicians by making their music not only easily accessible to their fans but also as affordable as possible.”

Each song will cost Sh30. Pewahewa has partnered with ipay, a real-time online transaction processing system, launched last month targeted at the region’s online merchants offering an alternative payment channel to credit cards.

“Increasing number of internet users have spurred the need for e-commerce in the country and the mobile money platforms serve as an alternative to those with no credit cards,” said Steve Ogolla of Intrepid Data Systems.

The innovators hope to tap into the fast growing market, where about 10 million Kenyans using the mobile cash services. The availability of more bandwidth in the country has also supported the development.

Mr Kuria said: “We are passionate and committed to using every resource available at our disposal to ensure musicians are compensated for their hard work.”