WINDHOEK – DonluAfrica has decided to go overboard for local artists and set a new record for any such platform in the country to give the high payouts to their artists.
The mega streaming service, which has already surpassed the million mark, announced the #DONLUPays1Million challenge on its social media pages last week.
Speaking to Entertainment Now!, founder Llewelyn Adams said whether this feat is achievable or not, it is worth a try.
“At first, people didn’t believe that Gazza’s ‘Chelete’ would reach a million streams on YouTube, nor did many believe we would reach a million streams combined on our website, but we did and here we are almost at two million streams a couple of months later,” he said.
When quizzed on how the million would be paid out to the artist, Adams said it would be shared with artists who are selling either singles and/or albums on the site. “Each song/album is linked to an artist thus making it easier to distinguish who gets what share. It’s their album sales at the end of the day,” he explained.
The streaming service is not stopping there, as there are plans to set up a state-of-the-art #DONLUMusicHub ‑ an idea they have been playing around with for the longest of time. It stems from seeing artists struggle with getting studio time or even being able to afford one.
For the music hub to see the light of day, the team is also hard at work planning their first festival slated for next year.
“With that in mind, we will set up the music hub from proceeds of the festival. Year on year, we will use these funds and keep on improving either equipment or infrastructure of the hub,” he stressed.
One might think this would be a tall order for the team but they have already engaged a few possible sponsors and the feedback so far has been positive.
With the Mobile Telecommunications giant (MTC) pulling out of the Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) next year, the music industry would breathe a sigh of relief in terms of monetary gain. “Our artists are really talented and it saddens me to think that the majority of them do not get backing or support from external factors such as families, friends and at times corporates. If I can do something to help guide them in the right way, why not?” he said.