Are we celebrating our local artists enough? By J. OrThat is the question each one of us should be asking ourselves. Radio presenters have a great part to play in this case, as a presenter you are in control of your playlist, you decide which artists you want to play on your programme. Do we as radio presenters take time to listen to local music as much as we listen to international artists'' songs, we have the power to create a hit song, because that song that is a hit now, was once unknown, till it started being played on the radio. You have local upcoming artists with a great song possible, a massive hit, but it''s not played, because this artist is unknown and we as radio presenters and DJ''s only want to play the well-known artists. We need to put laziness and favouritism aside and start celebrating and playing all of our local artists.
Local artists should also start having listening sessions with radio presenters before they release their albums for feedback and input, these are the people that will be playing your music on their programmes and share it on their social media platforms, so why not involve them from the start. Artists need to start thinking beyond the borders of Namibia in terms of getting their music played, on African radio stations. How are you selling your brand as a Namibian artist? Every local artist must have a twitter and a YouTube account, it''s how you put yourself out there for the world to see. If you don''t have one please, after reading this article, go and open one and don''t let it be a ghost account, we have a lot of those – this is one of the ways how you can stay relevant. Let''s create great hits that will be still be played five years later, let''s celebrate Namibian Music, because local is lekker.
*Johannes is a Radio Presenter at Base Fm. Follow him on twitter Joe1orr and Instagram johannes_joe_orr.