One song a year; are Kenyan artistes lazy?

It is 2015 and by many standards the Kenyan music industry has sprouted, grown even, from a struggling to a lucrative one that now boasts of numerous genres and multi-award winning artistes and musicians that perhaps make a living out of it.

Artistes have risen in numbers, and so has the variety, the number of radio stations has grown as well to accommodate the content, but it is just not enough.

Radio stations, it seems, cannot thrive on Kenyan music alone and have to bring in Tanzanian and Nigerian music to fill the gap.

But here we are today with over 100 radio stations and musicians are still complaining that their songs do not receive enough airplay, if at all any.

Radio stations especially the urban ones have segregated themselves each playing their audience’s favourite music from rock, reggae, R-n-B and contemporary music. But somehow, there is not enough space for Kenyan music.

Truth be told, there is demand for fresh Kenyan music but the supply chain is grossly inadequate.

Compared to other African countries, the number of songs released by Kenyan artistes is unbelievably wanting. Just last year, Diamond Platnumz released seven songs; "Muziki Gani", "Ntampata Wapi", "Mdogo Mdogo", "Ukimwona" and the collaborations "Kipi Sijaskia" with Professor Jay, "Number One (Remix)" with Davido and "Prokoto" with Victoria Kimani and Ommy Dimpoz.

In Kenya, the biggest name in music at the moment, Sauti Sol, released two songs, the controversial "Nishike" and the still high flying "Sura Yako".

With so much talent to go around in Kenya, it begs the question, why the dismal release of songs per year in the country?

The biggest challenge facing musicians

Veteran artiste Nonini and founder of the group P-Unit attributes this to the lackluster support from journalists and the media fraternity.

He says the constant negative reports and stories combined with trash talking from journalists in no way provides a conducive environment for musicians to share their music.

“The number one thing that we as musicians need first and foremost is support from the media.

When someone Googles you and all he reads is negative stuff he will not want to work with you. It is a collective thing and no one institution can be blamed for the lack of airplay.

Journalists must support us, radio heads must do their part by putting up more Kenyan content and DJ’s should play our songs,” says Nonini.

Nonini says the rate at which songs are released in Kenya depends on the market.

He argues that the Kenyan market is totally different from the foreign ones and that one Kenyan song can sustain it for three months.

“Apart from the fact that other countries do not have space for foreign music like we do, the population of a country like Nigeria demands that an artiste release like six or seven songs in a year.

Plus Nigerians and Tanzanians really love their own artistes, it is hard to compete with that when you don’t get support from your own country,” he says, adding that it is hard for most Kenyan artistes to survive on music alone.

The biggest challenge facing musicians, and which hinders them from releasing more music is not laziness, it is the informal setting of the industry, says music producer Robert “RKay” Kamanzi.

For artistes who are not making money, it is a challenge that will run them into millions of shillings since the standards and cost of releasing a single and making a video are high.

“Radio is following television, for a song to make it people have to see it; so for every single released an artiste has to follow it up with a video which is expensive. But Kenyan artistes are really trying with the few resources they have,” he says.

"The DJ’s are doing their jobs"

Record labels are essentially required to foot the cost of an artiste’s song and video so that he can solely focus on his music, but sadly it is not the case in Kenya.

“Funding is needed not only for releasing the single and video but for promotion of the song as well.

Nigerian artistes can afford to do videos worth $30,000 (Sh2.7 million), get flights to South Africa or abroad to promote their music because someone is paying for all of it. So how are Kenyan artistes going to compete with that?”

However, RKAY says it is not all gloom because the gap between Kenya and other countries is not as huge. According to him, Kenyans still have room to catch up and as far as talent goes, Kenya is covered. He also dismisses the idea that DJs give very little airplay to Kenyan songs.

“The DJ’s are doing their jobs, they are playing what fans are demanding, which is what they are watching not only on YouTube but on TV as well. The theory that DJs give less airplay to Kenyan music does not hold water,” says RKAY.

Last year, including collaborations, Nigerian star WizKid released nine songs, Davido had eight while Banky W had 11.

Back home, Jaguar only had "One Centimeter" and "Kioo" while Nameless released "Butterfly", "Ng’ang’ana" and "African Beauty".

Davido has so far, this year alone, released about five songs including collaborations: "Say dem Say", "Twerk", "The Sound", "Coco Butter" and "Twatoba".

These artistes seem to be outdoing our local talent by a mile and it could explain why you are more likely to hear four Wizkid songs in a nightout and only one Nameless track.

But Colonel Mustafa says that is not to say that the Kenyans are sitting idle, arguing that artistes are in studios working but fans only get to hear a few of their songs.

“The cost of releasing singles and videos is too high and the returns to artistes too little to make any profit hence the difficulty of releasing six or seven singles and videos in one year. You can’t do that if what you’re making per show is Sh500,000 only,” he says.

He reveals that artistes record close to six songs but only choose two of the best to release because there is no airplay in the market for six songs.

Although the rate at which songs are released in Kenya seems too slow, rappers Rabbit and Octopizzo are proving that they can at least supply the hip hop market with content all year long.

Last year, Rabbit released "Leta", "Kichinjio", "Kafiri", "Twende", "Nishazoea", Uko Tu Sawa" and 'Bado Nakupenda". Octopizzo on the other hand had "Salute me", "Something For you", "Paper Chasing", "Black Star" and "Hala".

All said, and in the era of social media where one can hit without radio and TV play, the lamentations by Kenyan artistes about lack of media support stand on shaky grounds.

Radio presenters and DJs always say they do not get enough local music to play the whole night while it is easy to play a two hour set of Davido or Wizkid.