“She’s very correct. Streaming power in Cameroon is very low. we have no voice on major streaming platforms. Especially the ones that demand subscription. People watching videos on YouTube and do not even comment or subscribe, some just go ahead and download on their phones using Vidmate without any reaction to the content adding no direct value to the artist.”
Mic Monsta agrees with Blanche Bailly’s point on Cameroon having a very low purchasing power. According to the Njoku, it’s the fans who make the artist; if those fans can’t make the artist, the artist is left to suffer.
Mic Monsta says Cameroonians need to have a voice on streaming platforms as this voice will lead to the promotion of their culture and the growth of our Industry.
Two days ago, Blanche Bailly took to her Facebook page to post;
“DELUSION 101 in our MUSIC INDUSTRY !!!
Every Cameroonian on Facebook claims to be a music expert ? 😆
Y’all swear y’all know the solution to this industry so bad and truely most of it sounds like delusion to me !!!!
Music is clearly a BUSINESS –
you INVEST to obviously make GAIN ! gain is made from AUDIENCE.
Audience = listeners/fans.
Primary revenue for an artist is supposed to be STREAMING! Back in the day they sold cds (before shows, endorsements and any extra money you make from utilizing your brand).
I used to claim Cameroonians are not supportive and today I apologize! I am sorry!
Release after release, I see how you all put in relentless efforts to share and hype our projects but all this can only go so far.
Let me make this short.
Cameroon is about 27 million people.
Usage of internet is roughly 35% which is roughly 9.5 million.
Do the math! 27m minus (let’s just round it up to 10m) = 17 million.
Basically, only 17m are likely to have access to internet.
Now how many people do you think have access to smartphones ? Where you can stream music ?
How many people have access to iPhones? For Apple Music etc ?
Now here’s the worst part.. How many people have bank cards ? Because without a bank account you cannot even subscribe to these leading platforms that INFLUENCE music around the world.
When you do all of these calculations, you will realize that 17m can even drop to 7m people only.
Let me be generous sef and say 10-12M people.
10M people ONLY.
Our primary problem is not the sound ( we will have this discussion another day) nor is our people not wanting to consume our products but what I call a very low consuming market.
Inside this 10-12M, some might not even be educated about these streaming channels (walk the streets of Cameroon and ask everyone with a smartphone about Spotify, Apple Music, deezer, etc) some might not even have the funds to (this is the reason we focus so much on YouTube and other free apps like boomplay, audiomack). Some might not want to purchase apps( it’s their right )… etc
Our AUDIENCE is too insignificant to compete with any other industry.
From Congo, to Ivory Coast, only inside French Africa, we are still small (sadly). Let’s not even now take it to English Africa.
To me, we need to start educating our AUDIENCE about buying( streaming) and the day any of us figures out how to be able to create a Large AUDIENCE that can consistently buy what he/she produces, that artist don win jackpot (whether it’s Cameroonians, French africa, or the world) – whatever your target is!
What do you think?”
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Daniji Emmanuel is a content writer who has written hundreds of articles on various niches focusing on Entertainment topics. He’s also published interviews, conducted research and written opinions on the creative industry. BigDan, fondly called, also consults and handles brand promotions for people and organizations in the creative industry.
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