Artists want 70% airplay

It is no secret that the majority of local radio stations play more international music compared to local tunes. This has upset many artists with them saying royalties that could be theirs, are going out of the country. Artists including Swart Baster, D-Naff, Sally, Shitana, VM6 and Castro, just to mention a few, had a brainstorming session to come up with a way to get more local music on radio stations. “We have decided that we will approach radio stations and have them play at least 70% local music and meet us halfway. We don't want to be like South Africa with 90% because we understand the running operations, especially with commercial radio stations,” said Swart Baster. The 2016-2017 Namibian Society of Composer and Authors of Music (Nascam) indicates that Namibian artists have received more royalties compared to international artists, with the total paid to local musicians is N$ 886,917, while international artists received a total of N$ 116,915. Nascam is encouraging commercial, private and community radio stations to continue using more local music. “Local radio stations are making money through advertisements, therefore, Nascam does not see the point why they have to use international music more than local music as local businesses pay the bills. Yet we are shipping money out to international artists that are mostly well-off, rather than promoting local artists and improving the production of the best music for our country,” said John Max.The artists plan on involving Nascam and broadcasters, including NBC, to combat the issue. DJ Kbozz also mentioned the importance of professionalism within the industry for it to thrive. “We also agreed that a lot of unprofessional artists who are taking chances need to be filtered out. We need to do more collaboration amongst ourselves and be the builders of upcoming talent,” he said.June Shimuoshili

Artists want 70% airplay

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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Artists want 70% airplay

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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