“Vera” hitmaker, D- Black has bemoaned the significant dip in music sales due to the role of the internet. He made this known to TV host, Nii Kpakpo Thompson on Tonight, which airs on Accra-based Viasat 1.
“The music doesn’t sell anymore because we are in a digital age, everybody can download on their phones”, he noted with concern.
D-Black is not the only Ghanaian musician to lament the declining performance of music sales. Hiplife act Itz Tiffany, made similar observations on Drive Time on Joy only weeks ago. She mentioned that only a handful of artists will end up on “big shows”, and as the country still does not have a tidy royalty system for the creative arts, it makes it hard for musicians to make adequate returns.
Indeed, this predicament is not limited to local artists as the world over, musicians are complaining about poor album sales.
Meanwhile, D-Black also submitted to Mr Thompson that a new album will be out this July; “I feel like it’s time to put out a new body of work. In July, I will put out a new album. It’s a twenty track album and there are lots of features…”
D-Black was born Desmond Blackmore, and is a multiple-award-winning hip-hop act, as well as head of music labels Black Avenue Music, which is also home to talented producer DJ Breezy.