Namibia: Industry players lament declining CD sales

Antonio Dragan Djokic, who owns a CD retailer in Windhoek CBD called Antonio’s Art, said his business is facing challenges owing to the digitalization of music. He said most music fans are no longer interested in buying CDs but prefer to download music online.

Antonio said he noticed a decline of CD sales this past season compared to previous years. “December is good for selling CDs and any other kind of business, although now that selling CD is not going so well like before,” he said, most CD retailers have closed shop as business is going down.

Suleimen Kyababa, owner of Ogopa Butterfly music production, told New Era Weekend last month that artists only release albums in December, since most music buyers are out scouting for new tunes when people are going for holidays.

“Some think we only release albums for NAMAs, but it’s not like that. To be honest, December is always a good time for an artist to release an album,” he said.

Local music producer DJ K-Boz said artists could make money through streaming their music online than rely on CD sales. Local musician D-Naff said Namibian artists should move with time and implement other ways of boosting their CD sells.

Young T’s album Becoming a King was the top selling album over the festive season followed by Jomolizo’s Kaandjetu, Bantu’s The Tower of Babel, The Adviser by D Square and Bullet Proof by Ann Singer.

This article was originally published in New Era on 9 January 2017.