The much-awaited Jah Prayzah Gwara album virtual show, which was hosted on the Gateway Stream Music platform on the evening of July 9, 2021, left fans begging for more as Jah Prayzah delivered an impressive performance. The stage design, video and sound quality were world-class, resulting in fans taking to social media congratulating both JP and the Gateway Stream Music team for hosting a high-quality show.
Speaking on behalf of Gateway Stream Music, Isheanesu Makambira, the Gateway Stream Music project manager said: “As Gateway Stream Music, we are proud to have successfully hosted the album launch and the live-stream show of Zimbabwe’s award-winning musician Jah Prayzah. We are encouraged that such a top artiste chose to partner a local innovation to launch his album.“
Over 11 300 unique viewers from 78 countries, watched the four-hour-long show. South Africa had the largest number of viewers, followed by Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom. Other sizable traffic was from Mauritius, United States, United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. The app was downloaded by users across the globe in countries such as Australia, Kuwait, Argentina, Nigeria, Ghana, Georgia, Iraq, Italy, Qatar, India, Canada, South Korea, Slovakia, Bermuda, Israel, Cayman Islands, Vatican City and Poland.
“We are humbled by the compliments from our users on the quality of the video and sound. We have invested in the platform to ensure we bring users the best possible production. The video quality is 4K resolution, which is high definition for a perfect picture quality. There were some instances where, due to this high quality of the video, some devices and networks struggled to support the heavy file,” said Makambira.
The Gateway Stream Music support team was on hand to assist users and resolve whatever challenges they were experiencing. Music fans were quick to share on social media once their connection issues had been resolved. They further expressed their pride in the fact that Gateway Stream Music is a local platform. Hosted on Amazon Web Service, it gives greater accessibility, security and enables the platform to handle any number of listeners/users from across the world with high-quality video and audio streaming.
Mkambira further expressed appreciation to Jah Parayzah and his 3G band for leading the way by choosing to use a local platform for his album launch, demonstrating a commitment to local innovations. True to his album name Gwara – Gateway Stream Music is the best path to help musicians earn an income through music sales, pay-per-view live-streaming and advertising revenue during virtual shows, which can extend beyond the virtual shows.
“We also thank our advertising partners for believing in our vision of supporting and empowering local artistes and having confidence in our platform despite the fact that it is the first such platform in Zimbabwe, “ he said.
Gateway Stream Music application is a local innovation with a global reach.The Gateway Stream Music mobile and web application is Zimbabwe’s first and only multi-dimensional entertainment platform which was developed and launched by Rainbow Tourism Group in December 2020. The vision behind the creation of the platform is to empower artistes by enabling them to monetise their trade and access markets using technology.
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The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has presented challenges for the arts and entertainment sector as the lockdown restrictions prohibit live shows — which are the main source of income for the sector. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Gateway Stream Music has hosted 10 virtual shows with the most recent being the Jah Prayzah Gwara album launch. Other artistes who have performed on the platform include Janet Manyowa, Winky D, Ammara Brown, Benjamin Dube, Poptain, Anita Jackson, iShan, Nutty O, Sulumani Chimbetu and Andy Muridzo.
Gateway Stream Music pioneered the introduction of the pay-per-view and live-streaming concept to the local market as a viable alternative to physical shows. Besides income generated from virtual shows, artistes are able to generate additional income from an advertising revenue share model where they are given a percentage of the advertising revenue from their virtal shows.
Through the artiste account feature, artistes are able to upload their music, live-stream their shows on the pay-per-view platform, set pricing, manage inventory, socialise with their fans using the interactive socialisation feature where artistes can interact with their fans and share content in the same way as they would on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
For music listeners, the Gateway Stream Music platform provides a total entertainment solution. It is a one-stop-shop which allows them to listen to their favourite music, buy songs and albums and live-stream album launches/shows using the pay-per-view platform. They are also able to connect with their favourite artistes through the in-app interactive socialisation function.
Since its launch in December 2020, at least 2 500 local artistes have registered and uploaded their music. Through a partnership with Gramma Records, Zimura and Diamond Studios, the platform now has 30 000 songs which range from sungura, mbira, to urban grooves, gospel and hip-hop music genres. Users can enjoy yesteryear songs from some of Zimbabwe’s greatest artistes who include Oliver Mtukudzi, Leonard Dembo, Simon Chimbetu and Bhundu Boys, to name a few.
The Gateway Stream Music app gives artistes access to consumers and helps to reduce the risk of losing earnings through piracy.
- The app is available from the Google Play Store for Android devices and Apple App Store for IOS devices and on the Gateway Stream Music website https://gatewaystreammusic.com/live-streaming/.
- Rainbow Tourism Group Corporate Communications & Innovations
