LIT360: Artistes sing praises for Lit Music

Many artistes in Kenya agree that talent alone is not enough to push one's career to the top, especially in the entertainment industry. A few key factors that artistes require but are acutely lacking include branding, marketing and distribution.

Most local record labels only get involved with an artiste to produce a song, leaving the musician high and dry on marketing and airplay.

A story written by an entertainment writer in Buzz magazine says, “For most artistes, signing a record deal is the ultimate dream, a turning point in their career. It is the day they make it to the big leagues. In Kenya, however, that signature is often not worth the ink it is signed on.”

Gospel singer Michael Gitari, better known as Mwenyehaki, has been in the industry for more than 10 years. He says that what is lacking most are serious record labels that care about the welfare of artistes.

“We have not had real record labels that can help nurture artistes from the ground up. In fact, the people behind these record labels do not even understand what the work of a record label is and what it entails to manage an artiste,” says Mwenyehaki.

He adds: “However I am grateful for my current record label, Lit Music. Since being signed, I can see my career going forward. I believe that it will really change the game because it is real and has given us hope. For me, it has accorded me time to focus on music as they worry about other issues.”

BUILD BRANDS

Currently, Lit Music has 13 signed artistes. Apart from managing and nurturing artistes, Lit Music record label works on brand building, exposure, marketing, distribution and event organisation.

Since being launched in May this year, Lit360 has grown to be one of the most sought after shows in Kenya.

It focuses on music, fashion, lit events, and cool places for eating out, among other things.

This is the starting point to fulfil the bigger purpose of developing mu-sic. “It is high time artistes understand exactly what it means to be signed by a record label so that they can be able to realise their full po-tential,” says Mwenyehaki.

Entertainment shows like Lit360 — which airs every Thursday at 10pm on NTV — also help artistes get wholesome coverage.

Since being launched in May this year, Lit360 has grown to be one of the most sought after shows in Kenya.

It focuses on music, fashion, lit events, and cool places for eating out, among other things.

“This show is exactly what we needed on Kenyan television because we need to understand what is happening to our music industry. Now we can have conversations with people we did not listen to before because they were not given airplay,” says Ms Mariam, one of the hosts of the show.