The start of the millennium saw an unprecedented rise in Sierra Leone music that kept the whole country not only dancing but also full of pride. For a nation whose airwaves and dancehalls were once dominated with western, Congolese and Caribbean songs –the majority of songs played across the nation were now local songs done by Sierra Leonean youths. Although there were other actors in helping this growth, one man however was to take some of the credit for that music revolution; Jimmy B was a key player, after he returned back home and opened the Paradise Recording Studio releasing it first compilation album featuring groups like Sisters With Attitude (SWA) with sound track ‘Ecstasy’, Ultra Blank’s ‘Like it’, Conscious Knowledge ‘Africa’ together with other Solo artists like Daddy Saj’s ‘Baby Joe’, YOK’s ‘Aye bo’ and Cool Donkay’s - ‘Salone me land’.
This was the start of a rapid rise in Sierra Leone music back in the year 2000, since then there was a non-stop release of album and music launchings everywhere. Local boys who were mostly unemployed and known very little in their communities became stars and household names overnight. Some of them had their lifestyles changed as most started patrolling with beautiful cars around the city, putting on flashy attires and walking up and down with followers.
Lately however, the trend has not been positive for Sierra Leone music, there is a very high rate of piracy, the level of quality music is not improving and the general populace are seemingly dropping their interest on Sierra Leone music.
At a music confab some two years ago jointly organised by Celtel Sierra Leone and Premier Media themed: ‘Way forward for the Music Industry in Sierra Leone.’ which was held from 26-28th June 2007, Miatta conference hall, most of the speakers in the music industry then like Base Aphonyx, a local reggae artiste and music industry advocate warned of this trend, Base and others including Sierra Leone music icon Steady Bongo expressed fears that mounting piracy and lack of incentives for musicians is a precarious trend that will have serious impact in the growth of local music in Sierra Leone.
Sadly for many Sierra Leonean musicians, instead of their conditions improving, since 2007 it has deteriorated acutely, gone are the days when music launchings drew large crowds of people; the National Stadium which was once a hot spot for musicians is now a nightmare for them. Several well known artistes including Daddy Saj and Manzu avec C-Bolt were shocked to be greeted by an almost empty National Stadium at their last launchings, according to sales figure from the Cassette Sellers Associations. Sales figure for local Sierra Leonean music are also at an all time low, “Infact, many customers are no longer asking for Sierra Leone albums,” said Mahmoud Kamara who sells cassette along Garrison Street in Freetown. When I put it to him that they are responsible for the drop in local music sales, Mahmoud defended himself and other cassette sellers saying that they are not to be blamed – he showed me a pack of dusty local albums most of which he claimed he bought over five years ago and have still not been bought yet. “You guys always come here and blame us for piracy, but the truth is that is what ‘you’ the customers want. People come here everyday and ask us for local music selection, they don’t ask for albums of specific artiste – they only ask for selection of various music and if you don’t sell those selections you are out of the music business…” said Mahmoud.
Whilst many have highlighted the problem of local piracy as a reason for the decline, hardly any of the recommendations of the music confab two years ago has been achieved; among other proposals such as internationalising Sierra Leone music by getting well acclaimed international recording labels produce Sierra Leone music and setting up of a strong anti-piracy act by government are all far-fetched dreams for the music industry today in Sierra Leone.
Interestingly, another proposal by the music confab for the marketing of Sierra Leonean music internationally via the internet has been done well by SLMTV. An American based group of Sierra Leonean based music DJs headed by Chris Williams, a.k.a. DJ Chris, SLMTV.com is a purely music oriented website that focus mainly on Sierra Leone music, they also have an annual award session for the best sections of Sierra Leone music. Their popular website has two portals, the one features an online radio which instantly plays you 24 hours non-stop Sierra Leone music throughout the day, there is also the top chart section on the radio portal which can play you on demand any of the top chart records. Added to this is the popular video portal which instantly gives you a wide list of Sierra Leonean music videos to choose from, from there you can choose any of the videos and play in a rich format at full screen on your computer screen. Whilst this can seem to be a good initiative on the outset, some industry advocate and musicians themselves are beginning to raise eyebrows about the effect this is having on Sierra Leone music, particularly on the backdrop that SLMTV has been accused of ripping off local Sierra Leonean musicians by selling their records online without payment of royalties and permission from the musicians and their recording labels. Also, SLMTV has other revenue base such as online advertisements and yearly subscription rates it collect from users of the site who pay a certain amount of US dollars to get
Current chart topper, Famous was visibly angry and upset with what he said was a clear rip-off by SLMTV for not only making his ‘Love Tight’ video available on demand online but for also what he referred to as open deception by SLMTV by giving an award that he has never seen. “I cannot imagine someone playing my video online that I have actually not even published yet, these guys are really responsible for the problems we are undergoing. Recently a guy called DJ Karl who said he was from SLMTV came to me and even did some video shoot with me telling me I have won an award and up till now I have not seen anything yet. These guys are destroying Sierra Leone music yet they claim they are promoting it, I really cannot see what they are up to”, said a visibly angry Famous.
Even industry owners like Abubakarr Konteh, a.k.a. DJ Box is stunned by the activities of SLMTV, he told me that he has never given permission for any Kallboxx Record published songs to be placed on their websites yet still there are Kallboxx songs on SLMTV.com. Asked further about why he thinks SLMTV is operating in this way, DJ Box said that the best people to answer that question are SLMTV themselves.
At the other end of the music industry are people like the influential music engineers and video makers also, Ayouba Sidibay who is the nation’s most foremost music video producer, tells me he was surely disappointed with what he saw as an infringement on their copyright and hard-work by SLMTV and others who used their works without no benefit to them. “Many of the videos I produced (some of which have not even been published) are there on SLMTV.com, what pains me more is that people can easily download these videos or record them with their digital camera as they watch it online. At the end of the day all of us including the musicians themselves are the losers, because when this kind of trends takes place people no longer go to music stores to buy music or the videos because they can easily download them on their PCs and distribute them easily with others.
Sources from Studio J indicates that the record company owner, Charles Ostrov is even planning to take some actions against SLMTV.com for what he believes is a grave violations of his Studio J Records copyright. Another industry insider who wants anonymity because of what he refers to as his business ties with one of the owners of SLMTV told me that the original plan of SLMTV was to help Sierra Leone music stand firm.
He however, said that plan has failed because instead of them helping the growth of the music industry in Sierra Leone, they have actually helped to stall that growth by making Sierra Leone music easily accessible to people who would have otherwise bought it. He also said most of the pirated copies of Sierra Leone music on sale in the US and elsewhere are actually downloaded from SLMTV websites by scrupulous individuals who sell them for less to Sierra Leonean overseas. To manifest this, I actually tried doing so with my PC and Sierratel modem in the presence of musician Famous – I successfully downloaded his “Love Tight” music video very easily I can say (I wont say how I did it because I don’t want to make it easy for many to keep doing so); which was in high video quality also.
Like the “Love Tight” video there are many other videos available on SLMTV.com that cannot even be found in the Sierra Leone market, female Sierra Leonean music sensation Amit also has a newly released video that has found it way to the SLMTV website. “The video has all the copyright warning description and yet still SLMTV is making available this video”, says Ayouba.
Just like participants at the music confab stated, the best way Sierra Leone music can move ahead is by a proper effort to not only market it but also to ensure that original Sierra Leonean music are sold overseas. This is simply because there is a possibility that musician will get more money from abroad than at home because the market here at home is too small or inadequate to provide the necessary funding the music industry need for a proper growth.
Reacting to these criticism Chris Williams, a.k.a. DJ Chris, founder and CEO of SLMTV told me on the line from the United States that their intention for the growth of Sierra Leone music is just as good as that of the musician themselves. “Our main aim is to market Sierra Leone music to the highest level, and today we have achieved that. You cannot believe it when some of these musicians like K-Man and Jimmy come here to the United States in our programmes; they are surprise to hear people calling from all corners of the world saying how much they appreciate them and their songs. They are noticeably moved and flattered by this recognition we have helped them to get…”, said DJ Chris. Asked whether they are destroying the music industry by placing Sierra Leonean songs and videos online for free and at the mercy of scrupulous people who will download and sell, DJ Chris said that they are not aware of the latter and the running of their ‘highly sophisticated’ website cost them a lot of money.
He denied allegation that they are still selling Sierra Leonean music online, but however acknowledged that they were doing so in the past but have ceased that approach. He said that most of the artistes in Sierra Leone who have not gone to the United States are totally ignorant of what they (SLMTV) are doing, according to DJ Chris that is the reason for the negative opinion most of those based in Sierra Leone have for us. “We are doing a wonderful job here and many have praised us for bringing Sierra Leone music to the world,” he said. On the music sales front, DJ Chris said that it hightime Sierra Leone music be sold appropriately in the outside world, but said that was not their responsibility; “We know someone should be trying to do that but we also sense that is a difficult mission taking cognisance of the fact that the recording and distribution business is a whole lot different enterprise. And one must also look at the problems and unsatisfactory attitude of most Sierra Leonean musicians, they will most likely turn a blind eye at our constrains and think we are probably cheating them or not giving them what they deserve,” said DJ Chris.
One thing certain is that SLMTV has certainly made Sierra Leone music popular in the outside world, but this popularity has not yielded any positive fruits for the decaying music industry in Sierra Leone, as I write this piece I have seen shocking instances of musical stars in Sierra Leone some of whom were only few years back globetrotting the world, now they have nothing. I don’t want to mention their names because some of them are planning or hoping to make comebacks and would certainly be ashamed for their names to appear in a list of music industry hapless stars, but the sad truth is that they are now living in shameful conditions, the cars, flashy dresses and followers are all gone, some of them now depend on relatives and friends for their living. Like their compatriots living in other parts of the world, Sierra Leonean musicians work hard to release their works, many of them used their own resources to publish their works and even pay radio DJs to market their songs on air, so for them to be deprived in such a way is a huge injustice to their efforts. And if there is any hope that Sierra Leone music should rise up again and take a place far beyond the borders of Sierra Leone, then urgent measures need to be put in place – SLMTV.com needs to find a more better way of marketing Sierra Leone music with due consultation with industry stakeholders and also the Sierra Leonean populace both at home and abroad have to realised that if they are to keep enjoying and dancing to their local tunes, they have to develop an habit of buying original copies of their favourite local artistes.
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12 31st, 2009| 
