In effort to cope with the ever evolving world of technology and fighting the never ending piracy war, gospel artists have turned their attention to social media which has become easily accessible.
Using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube has become an escape route for artists who are trying to put themselves on the entertainment market as they shun the traditional and conventional way of marketing and earning a living.
From time immemorial, artists from across music genres heavily relied on shows and album sales, but for upcoming gospel musician Willard Muzaeni, social media market seems to be bearing fruits if records from his previous album are to be believed.
The youthful musician released his album at the back end of last year and resorted to uploading his videos on YouTube and Facebook, a move which he says has helped him get recognition.
“After releasing that album I have done a lot of shows, the feedback was tremendous. But it cannot be compared to when I started posting my videos on YouTube. I started getting feedback from people from as far as Botswana, Nigeria, Zambia and South Africa.
“Posting my videos on social media has opened channels for me as I have also been noticed by MTV and Trace TV which are South African based and Christ TV and the ZBC TV has been playing my videos as they like the quality of the work we are doing,” said Muzaeni who is still riding on a high after the success of his third album, Nhaka Yekukunda.
His latest video Muri Mukundi has been aired on state broadcaster ZBC TV while the South African channels are yet to air it although they have approved of the quality.
Another channel in Malawi is also airing the highly rated video which has been viewed 120 000 times on Facebook and 4000 times on YouTube.
Zimbabwean artists have for long struggled against piracy which is affecting their work with pirates pouncing on anything they find worthy selling on the streets.
Muzaeni said for sustainability, artists need to move with digital technology and rely less on album sales.
He added that they also need to take advantage of private functions which he said have also been rewarding.
