THE coming in of Trace Africa music channel five months ago on DStv’s Channel 326 was meant to bring joy for local artistes, but it seems Zimbabwean musicians are yet to receive royalties for their music played on the station.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
Some musicians, who spoke to NewsDay on condition of anonymity, confirmed that they are yet to receive royalties from the channel.
“We are trying our best to come up with high quality videos shot on big budgets for them (videos) to make the grade on the channel, but our efforts and investments are yet to be rewarded,” an award-winning musician, whose videos have featured on the channel, said.
Another seasoned artiste said: “While we applaud the introduction of the Trace Africa channel as a platform that will expose our talent on an international platform, there is need for our efforts to be rewarded since music is our only source of livelihood.”
A music analyst said artistes are sometimes to blame, as they do not value their works that they, at times, are willing to do anything for exposure.
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“Music is business and serious artistes cannot be manipulated simply because they want publicity, but you find out that some of our musicians are found begging for exposure, thereby, exposing themselves to exploitation,” he said.
“In reference to this case, you cannot be shocked that the same musicians, who are crying foul, actually submitted their videos for free, as they are only concerned about airplay.”
Efforts to get a comment from Trace Africa were fruitless, as they were yet to respond to questions sent to them through MultiChoice Zimbabwe’s spokesperson, Liz Dziva, last week.