Local Hip-Hop gospel artist Blessing Maramba, aka GGB, said gospel music has suffered immensely in terms of its monetary value.
BY OUR STAFF
Maramba, who has one album titled, In the Beginning, said this was caused by the fact that music sales were relatively low.
He said musicians had resorted to maximising on live performances to make a living.
“This is because albums don’t sell much in shops anymore and there is a lot of pirating. So for one to put bread and butter on their tables, they have to go out to the people and get the money directly from the people,” said GGB.
“Live performances provide us with that leverage to get a quick profit and a few losses at times and performances seem to be the safest option these days.”
He said musicians had also resolved to use live performances as a marketing tool.
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The young musician, who recently featured Nox Guni and Mudiwa Hood on two of his tracks, said the problem was complex and it needed critical thinking to tackle.
“The economy plays a pivotal role in the quality of music we produce. Without profits, it is difficult to produce quality music and buy video equipment. It is also difficult to pay band members and producers. Apart from that, it is also difficult to market your music,” he said.
“No matter how we look at it, arts is something that will always need investment and support in order to operate and to keep operating. At the same time most of us just make music for the sake of a temporary hit.”
He said musicians end up rushing to the studio to release hits and forgo depth and other aspects, thereby making sure the standards plummeted.
The young artist said the consumers of arts had also made life difficult for musicians.
“The consumers haven’t helped by pirating our music and also marketing us at a lower scale than they do international music. We need our people to support us too,” he said.
“I feel that the way forward is first and foremost for our beautiful people to support us on social media, through word of mouth and also through monetary means.
“At the same time, try and buy our music directly from us. I think the phrase ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ applies a lot to art. We need everyone to support and maintain our art.”
He said musicians should thrive to make sure that their music speaks to the people and sends messages that have value to their given societies.
“Music should send a message that is valuable to society and not just sing a song for the sake of big bucks because it makes your music quickly fade in people’s memories,” he said.
GGB was born on October 6 1990. He is the first child in a family of two and holds a degree in Architectural Drafting.
