Kenyan musicians are protesting the lack of airplay on local radio and TV stations in the East African country, the BBC says.
Members of the Kenyan Musician Movement took to the Nation Centre in Nairobi today 10 August, 2015 to air their grief and accused the media of favouritism towards West African and South African music.
According to Nairobi News,
Mitch Wyclif, a publicist for Beat Ya Keggah production, said: “We are demanding for 70% airplay from our local media as we see only Tanzania and Nigeria music being aired".The Kenyan government has put in place a new directive that requires TV stations to broadcast 60% local content. The Communication Authority of Kenya expects all broadcasters to meet this requirement by 2018.
In a report by Josephine Mosongo of Kenyan publication Daily Nation, she wrote that it seemed as though the Kenyan stations could not thrive solely on the local music, as such music from other African countries had to be brought in.
“Truth be told, there is demand for fresh Kenyan music but the supply chain is grossly inadequate”, Mosongo wrote in her article titled “One song a year; are Kenyan artistes lazy?”. She highlighted how the local talent in the country were not able to release as many songs or videos as their Nigerian counterparts in a year.
Recent years have seen Nigerian music gaining popularity across the continent and even in the West.
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