LOCAL music promoter Samuel “Boss Werras” Saungweme (pictured) yesterday said his heart bled over the stifled growth of the creative industry in light of the high cost of music production and distribution.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
The Werras Entertainment boss told NewsDay Life & Style that he was pledging resources to help artistes across genres to deliver their music to the nation for free in the wake of expensive data for fans to download music from online platforms.
Technology has become an important platform for artistes as they share their music with fans as well as link them to their followers and new markets although Zimbabwe is yet to catch up with the rest of the world.
The internet has become a crucial tool for artistes as the new working space for those seeking to keep abreast with new trends in the industry, sharing their productions on different social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Itunes and YouTube.
Boss Werras said he was so passionate about the arts and culture industry that he was committed to contribute to its growth.
“As the masses are unable to download music online because of the ever-rising costs of data, as Werras Entertainment we are devoted to working with artistes across genres to deliver their music to the nation on CDs for free like we used to do before,” he said.
“I want to thank all the artistes who are releasing new stuff in this current harsh economy. Let’s stop dividing artistes and the industry and to my fellow promoters I say we have a challenge to deliver music to the people through various platforms.”
Boss Werras said his involvement in the arts sector was driven by passion and he did not expect rewards from the artistes he worked with.
“As Werras Entertainment, we are open to partnership with other artistes. We do it out of passion. We do not expect much or rewards from the artistes. We don’t get stressed like other promoters when they fail to get rewards from the artistes,” he said.
Werras Entertainment in partnership with National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and several musicians have been part of an initiative to educate people, mainly the youths on the HIV and Aids pandemic through music.
They have also organised several concerts across the country as edutainment to raise awareness on, and tackle, social issues affecting ghetto youths such as drug abuse, abortion and child marriages.
