World Music Day: Cameroon upcoming artists decry increasing challenges in music industry

While Cameroon on Wednesday joined the international community to commemorate World Music Day celebrated every year on June 21, upcoming artists in the music industry have complained bitterly about the everyday challenges they face.

This day is always commemorated to celebrate and promote the global language of music, and to bring together people of different nationalities, cultures, and races through music.

These musicians in Cameroon say they face many challenges, including the lack of supportive infrastructure, piracy, and limited access to finance.

“Upcoming artists face a unique problem of finance, marketing strategies, and information on how to protect their art. The cost of production and the promotion of music is actually high which limits a lot of us young artists from getting exposure in the industry. As an artist, information is key to success. Most of us lack information about music, where to put our music to be able to earn minor income as an independent artist, how to protect the art, and so on,” Ndocham Ferdinand Akem AKA Akem Cameroonian upcoming musician said.

“Not having a team to work with. That involves marketer, producer, manager, bloggers, etc and it all boils down to finance, so, my main problem is lack of money to finance the above,” Chianoh Malvis AKA Vinhora stated.

“Upcoming artists have a lot of challenges ranging from finance, lack of sponsors, disrespect, etc. From recording, and shooting of a video clip to paying tv, radio, and bloggers so that they can help you get your song out there entails a lot of money. At the level of disrespect, when an artist is not yet known people turn to disrespect you a lot, some even invite you to programs at the end, they don’t pay the money that was agreed upon. Having a sponsor is difficult especially here in Cameroon, people still don’t believe they can invest in music, they don’t yet know music is business “showbiz”, most people here still see music as something done by people that are jobless, rascals,” Don Chiambah Venasius Chia AKA Don Shell bemoaned.

The theme for World Music Day 2023 is “Music on the Intersections”, highlighting the ability of music to unify communities and individuals.

These upcoming musicians are hoping for better days ahead in the music industry.