NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 23 – Safaricom’s ring back tunes application, Skiza, is channeling Sh200 million to Kenyan artistes every month. Safaricom Head of Corporate Affairs Steve Chege says close to 21,000 artists are registered with Skiza Tunes with the mobile telco company.
He says that the platform has enabled the artistes to monetize their talent by selling their songs to customers through the ring back platform.
Chege announced that the company will continue creating awareness among musicians in the country.
“Safaricom is committed to pumping more investments in the music industry. We stepped in to help musicians make a living out of their art,” he said.
Safaricom had last year announced a 36 per cent increase in the amount Kenyan artists will earn for music sold through the SKIZA music platform.
Musicians now earn 30 per cent on SKIZA earnings, up from the current 22 per cent they earn per song.
The amount is paid through their respective Content Service Providers who then pay the musicians in accordance with the contracts they have signed and in line with recent legal directives.
Safaricom subscribers who actively use the service is now at 11 million with over 132,000 songs available for download.
In February Safaricom Launched a Music Streaming service dubbed “ SONGA by Safaricom. ”
The all-inclusive music streaming service offers a wide variety of music to consumers and serves as an additional platform for artistes to sell their music.
The streaming service app, available on Android mobile devices, provides one-touch access for music across all major genres giving subscribers convenience of listening to their favorite music on their smartphones.The app curates, codifies and classifies vernacular, local music and a world class international music catalogue with over 2 million songs from over 400,000 artistes.The service has concluded agreements with major international and African labels and aggregators including Sony Music Entertainment, Africori, Africha, Ngoma, Expedia and is at an advanced stage of negotiation with other major labels.Available music includes songs by Wizkid, Camila Cabello, Usher, Chris Brown, Beyonce, Davido and local hit artistes such as Sauti Sol, Mercy Masika, Nyashinski, and Eric Wainana among others.
