Tanzania’s music distributors struggling to cope with plummeting sales

Piracy has almost brought the music industry to its knees. At one time it was estimated that up to 80% of all tapes in the market were illegally copied. The Tanzanian government was quick to act. In 1997 it made a move to tackle the issue by enforcing a copyright law, but due to lack of money and resources, violators were rarely prosecuted. 

The once vibrant industry is now slowly fading into oblivion. In 2002, when Bongo Flava T.I.D. (aka Khalid Mohamed) released his first album Sauti Ya Dhahabu, he reportedly sold over 200 000 copies in Tanzania alone and at least 350 000 copies across Africa. His mix of R&B and Caribbean beats made the album a club favourite with tracks like ‘Siamini’ and ‘Kweli’.

The industry is now not only faced by piracy issues but advanced technology means that distributors have to find ways to remain relevant in an age where online platforms like Youtube and Soundcloud enable people to access content directly.

Tanzania Audio-Visual Works Distributor (TAWD) is a nationwide supplier of music and films produced in the country, with over 200 members under its wings. “Nobody is buying audio (CDs) or video (DVDs) anymore,” says Baraka Nyanda, the National Chairman of TAWD (Please check try to insert hyperlink to directory, or create new profile).  “The sales of physical media have dropped by more than 50% in the past 10 years. In the year 2005, Tanzania used to produce more than 300 new films per year, but now the number has dropped to around 100 as of 2015.”

The National Secretary for TAWD, Frank Martin, says the music industry has taken a beating from online channels like Youtube and social media platforms like Whatsapp, through which songs and short videos can be shared on a peer-to-peer basis while full-length films can be streamed or downloaded by viewers free of charge. “We have reached a point where artists prefer to distribute their music freely online while distributors are left with nothing to do,” says Martin., explaining that this is why many producers, distributors and retailers of Tanzanian music and films are calling it quits and choosing to embark on alternative businesses.

Distributors under TAWD have even threatened to boycott the stamp fixed onto local CD and DVDs by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) as a means to curb piracy and collect revenues from local artists. “Distributors think the stamps don’t help much because imported music and films are never stamped, thus making them cheaper compared to local products. However, this is not the key issue. Falling quality and lackluster demand for Tanzanian output are the critical issues for the industry,” says Martin.

For distributors, it will clearly take a lot to change their fortunes in the local industry. Artists, on the other hand, have to do more simply than create good songs. For them to generate an income, they have to explore other avenues such as live performances, royalties from radio and TV airplay, and strategic partnerships with companies such as telecoms.

With live performances reported to earn an artist between $300 and $400, musicians in most cases face stiff competition from other artists. According to the Copyright Society of Tanzania (COSOTA), there are approximately 100 000 artists in Tanzania but only 2000 have registered with the body. The Tanzanian music industry - and in particular the Bongo Flava genre - is still lucrative, with about $22 million reportedly made from call-back tunes only in the period of 2012 to 2013 according to a research conducted by Tanzania’s The Citizen newspaper.  

But the Tanzanian industry’s greatest undoing could be the general lack of music business knowledge among most artists, who lack any formal training. Local music managers seem to be particularly ignorant of the business itself. Most are more interested in returning their financial investment rather than truly nurturing talent.