Eric goes digital to beat piracy

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Wednesday August 22, 2012 00:00

 

Eric's music is now on sale on iTunes.  The 2011 Best Religious Song award in the MOAMAs saw his stock rise in the international gospel market following his win. Since then, his music has been sought after internationally, especially by Batswana in the Diaspora and the new development looks likely to broaden his market base.

Botswana's online music publisher, Itumeleng Garebatshabe, popularly known as Intellect, who put out Eric's music on the Internet, confirmed the development. 'Kabelo's music is now available online,' he told Showbiz.

He said the initiative is driven by the fact that musicians world over are losing millions of 'dollars' a year to piracy and copyright-related issues.The two struck a deal in June this year and completed the venture late last month.

Eric said going digital would reduce the costs he incurs in printing CDs. 'Going digital reduces production costs in terms of printing CDs and means we only deliver based on demand. Of course I would not want to forget my traditional market but selling online is just an add-on market and distribution strategy,' said Eric.

RiSA last year advised all record labels to start selling music online on platforms, including iTunes and Amazon rather than cutting CDs. The passionate muso also believes the move will ensure he reaches out to gospel music lovers across the globe. 'It's a milestone achievement in my music ministry as it will boost my reach-out to the international audience. 

It will also advance my purpose as a gospel minister to reach greater exploits in the spiritual realm musically and to every corner of the world,' he added. Garebatshabe was recently short-listed for an award for his anti-piracy application designed to frustrate music piracy, especially through file-sharing.

The Gaborone-based mobile developer launched his anti-piracy application three months ago in which he used Karabo 'Bally' Leburu's Hip-hop gospel album Hype On Grace as a trial.His mobile application makes it impossible for sharing of music files from one device to another via Bluetooth.  Piracy has been detrimental to Africa's music industry for years.