The modern music industry is brutally fast paced that artistes have to pump out song after song to remain relevant. Unlike in the classics from the past, today’s songs have a short lifespan. A song will hit for a few months and vanish off the airwaves. Some will rack up millions of views but a few months down the road, they fizzle out. If the artistes take long to release another song of even better quality, they will also fizzle out of the limelight and new artistes will take over. That is how brutal it is. It takes hard work and consistency to remain relevant. The recent weeks have been dominated by a social media debate on the state of the music industry in Rwanda, with many pointing fingers to artistes and producers working to undermine each other, in the process music becomes the loser. The debate was triggered by claims that one Coach Gael, Bruce Melodie’s manager and promoter, is disrupting the music industry, first by diverting the singer from releasing music regularly and then using his influence and money to allegedly malign or blackmail other musicians. Some accused him of poaching producer Element Eleeh from Country Records, where he had cut a name, producing hit song after hit song, but since he left in January to join Gael’s 1.55am studio, he is yet to release any serious hit. ALSO READ: Is Element’s exit from Country Records a huge mistake? As such, some social media users and music enthusiasts accused Coach Gael, real name Gael Karomba, of ‘killing’ Rwanda’s music industry. Among those pinning him is Element’s former employer, Jean Paul Nduwimana ‘Noopja’ who is also up in arms on social media, making all sorts of allegations. The debate has drawn in many people, with some accusing Karomba of allegedly blackmailing U.S-based singers Meddy and The Ben through social media, but both Bruce Melodie and his manager have brushed aside the allegations and said “work goes on”. The singer has continued his African tour in West Africa, where he says he is working on different music projects. Bruce Melodie posted a sarcastic tweet, inside MTV Base West Africa studios, joking “this is how far we have reached destroying Rwandan music.” Heated Twitter spaces have been hosted, where both sides -one supporting Bruce Melodie and his manager, and another accusing them, have clashed, drawing in even renowned music pundits, promoters and legends. What do others have to say? Singer Jacques Murigande, commonly known as Mighty Popo, joining one of the spaces, called on artistes to put a stop on creating unnecessary 'beef' amongst members of the music fraternity, pointing out that competition is healthy but negative rhetoric will hurt the industry even more. “We need to come together and help build our industry. Any negative distraction needs to be ignored! Competition is healthy, we should all support it. We should not destroy the little we have built,” Mighty Popo said, warning artistes against unnecessary fights. Similarly, Eric Soul, founder and creative director of Afrogroov, says it is unfortunate that divisions and disagreements are surfacing in Rwanda’s music industry, which was just beginning to pick up. “It's unfortunate because our music scene is so small in contrast to the global music market that this approach is counterproductive and do not help the Rwandan music to grow outside of our borders,” “Personally, it is more interesting to invest our energy, efforts and passion to rise to a level where our artistes are becoming a respected and competitive force in the global market,” Eric Soul says. He points out that developing a sustainable creative and cultural industry that will go on to become a respected and competitive force in the global market, goes far beyond just artistes on stage but also promoters, producers and everyone in the industry being able to make money. Eric Soul says that zeroing down to one person to accuse them of killing the music industry is unrealistic because there are other bigger issues that need to be addressed for the industry to grow as desired. “It is a whole sector that we need to develop. I think what is really killing our scene is inadequate policies hindering the growth of our scene, not what one guy is doing. Shifting blame and finger pointing is counterproductive in any context,” he added. Trust the process Lee Ndayisaba, a media personality, who knows all too well about the music industry, and previously managed Bruce Melodie, says that what kills the hope for the industry is the suspicion that comes with efforts invested. ALSO READ: Will Ndayisaba be the man to take Rwandan music to the next level? “Basically, what happens when someone shows good intentions to do something for the music industry, like investing in music? People starting wondering whether you mean or not, but only time can tell.” “It is very important for people to see possibility, to see how much can be achieved, how far it can go. For a businessman to invest in the music industry, they definitely expect returns from the music industry. Nobody will invest money if they don’t expect returns,” Ndayisaba says. Ndayisaba believes it is a good thing to see individuals coming up to say that they want to invest in music, regardless of other issues that need to be tackled in the ongoing conversation. “In whatever way or form, it's a very welcome thing. In my opinion, I think it's a very good thing. It was long overdue because there's never been such cases in the music industry where people are coming to invest their money,” “We always expect corporate companies to invest in music. So, if you find individuals coming through and saying, we want to invest in music in whatever way or from, it's a very welcome thing,” Ndayisaba says. On the ongoing debate stirred by developments in the industry, Ndayisaba says it is important because people question things, and when they do question things, then answers are provided, long-term or short term. “I think it's good in a sense that it's ok for us to question intent. If the intent is good, we move with it. If it's not good, then we know that we failed. But first, before that what did we have? Nothing!” he says. Ndayisaba argues that corporates look at their own interests when they are investing in music but when an individual comes and wants to put their own money, they should be given an opportunity to do so and perhaps judged by the results.
