[proy]

It has been interesting to see the developments made
in marketing and distribution of Kenyan/East African
music or so it may seem. In the last five years
various entities have come and gone, with the intent
of promoting Kenyan music and giving it a wider base
of promotion , marketing and distribution. With this
has come also the unknown territory for most artists
and producers, not only from Kenya but the whole of
East Africa.
The Music industry has a wide range of sub divisions in
it and distribution is just one of them. It also happens to
be the latest craze in the East African entertainment
industry. Most artist and producers when approached
with distribution deals don't seem to look into depth
into the deals, which is resulting in major confusion
abroad. With accusation now being thrown left and
right about who is pirating what some innocent by
standers are getting caught in the cross fire.

With this advent of so called distribution , producers
and artists are not differentiating between retail
outlets and the distribution network. Also it has come
to our notice that most production houses are signing
exclusive distribution deals with new and upcoming
companies without looking at what this new companies
can really do in reality.
It would be of good sense to look at who you are
signing your deals with and what kind of potential
they have in maximizing your music sales, one should
also look at their surveys. This distribution
companies should also be able to provide you with the
demographic they intend to approach using their
marketing strategies.

The Producers, production houses and the artists also
have to know ways to maximize their sales. One way of
not doing so , is by signing exclusive deals with non
stator distribution companies or outlets. The work of
a distributor is to explore ways to get different
retail outlets to stock the music they distribute, not
to go behind the existing outlets and try to mad sling
them. The bottom liner is artists need distributors
and distributors need outlets.

NOTE: This is in response to all the rumors going
round that, Ken Kodular owner Giftshopkenya an
affiliate company to Swahili Grp. LLC and Tha
Syndicate, has been pirating the music up for sale
online.
It should be noted for the record that
Giftshopkenya.com is only a retail outlet for East
African Music, the music is bought from retail stores
at retail price and no meaningful profit gained from
it. Giftshopkenya with help of various affiliate
companies including the mentioned above, helps as a
marketing point for East African music, NOT A PIRATING
SOURCE.


Ramsees Michan
Swahili Grp. LLC ( USA )

Philip Roy
Swahili Entertainment

Michael Simiyu
Tha Syndicate

Ken Kodular
GiftshopKenya.Com

Peter Koki/ Billy Owigi
Swahili Records/ Scratch Records