Album launches: a ploy to rip off ignorant fans?

By Joseph Batte

FOR the last couple of months, ‘album launch’ has become a misused phrase in our local entertainment industry. The public is always bombarded with incessant radio adverts about a looming album launch in every ‘happening’ place in the city.

The frequency with which these albums are launched is causing debate as to whether the launches are real, in the true sense of the word. The big question is: What is an album launch?

Launching an album actually means unveiling fresh music to the public.

Normally, few guests are invited to an album launch, most of them record executives, the press and corporate managers –– more like a ‘listening party’. However, the majority of Ugandan artistes have put an end to that noble idea.

What we consider an ‘album launch’ in Uganda is actually a marketing ploy by local artistes to squeeze some millions out of the ignorant fans. This is one of the major reasons why album launches are sickeningly monotonous.

Fans should wake up and ask themselves: How can an album that was released in January be launched in August?

Songbird Juliana Kanyomozi is one of the examples of this absurdity. She released Nabikowa last year, just in time for the third edition of the Pearl of Africa Music (PAM) Awards. The track burnt up the local charts and swept the nation like a wild fire. Then after some months, I was surprised to see her posters plastered all over the streets of Kampala announcing the ‘official launching’ of Nabikoowa in August, 2005 at Imperial Botanical Gardens, Entebbe!

Singer Jose Chameleone officially launched Shida za Dunia months after it had been released on the market. Another example is Catherine Kusaasira’s upcoming launch of Wafuuka Bikadde. The title track is several months old, but the adverts on radio sound as if it is a new album.

“Blame it all on ignorance,” says Isaac Mulindwa, the PAM Awards chairman. “Our Ugandan artistes need to be sensitised. They unveil music that is months old, sometimes even a year old. They don’t know that a launch basically means unveiling something new.”

“The right way to do it is to release one or two singles first, record an album and then launch it before or soon after it has been released on the market,” Mulindwa says.

“Much of what we call album launches today are actually just normal concerts. Our local artistes are using the excuse of ‘launching an album’ to market themselves,” Mulindwa adds.

Mulindwa is also critical of the same artistes that perform at the various album launches. “The public is treated to some sort of continuous concert week in week out. The artistes perform the same music and go through the same stale dance routines.”

Mulindwa advises that the number of opening acts at album launches should be few and an opportunity should be given to upcoming artistes.

“This is because we have had situations where popular invited artistes have put up better shows than the main artiste who is launching his or her album. This is very wrong. It is like going to your wedding and being upstaged by your bridesmaid.”

Mulindwa says an artiste with 15 songs to his credit from the previous album can easily pull off an album launch without the support of big guest stars.

Mulindwa also blames the never-ending launches on the big number of artistes in the country. “Today we have more artistes than before yet our market is very small. A total of 1,630 artistes who have registered for the PAM awards have to share two days in 52 weekends in a year.”

The rule is: the Obsessions cannot launch their album at Hotel Africana on the same day Chameleone will be launching his at a different place in Kampala –– both occasions will register poor turn-up.

Aga Sekalala, the managing director of Radio Simba, a local FM station, says the monotonous album launches are largely due to the Ugandan economics of survival. “At the end of the day, the real meaning of these incessant album launches all boils down to one thing –– money. An album may not register good sales, so an album launch often provides the best chance to make some good money, especially corporate money, yet there is very little of it.”

The artistes, therefore, have to compete for the little corporate money available.

Sekalala says though the album launches are ‘sickening’ they provide good publicity for our local artistes. “You can’t make newspaper headlines with an album that hardly left the shelves. The only chance to shine is when you stage an album launch. The press will surely be present to give you the publicity.”

Blame it on the expensive lifestyle of artistes. Most artistes the world over live in a world of glamour –– driving expensive cars and wearing costly designer clothes.

Local artistes have copied the same lifestyle. They often ask record companies for a down payment for their yet-to-be released albums so as to “keep up appearances”. By the time the album is released on the market, they are already heavily in debt. So, an album launch is the life-saver in solving their financial woes. Local artiste Phina Mugerwa, however, blames the PAM awards. “The awards have fuelled cut-throat competition among artistes. When you release an album in January, the interest for the music tends to fade by the middle of the year because almost every week a new album is released on the market. So to keep the fire burning, an album launch months later, will provide the necessary ‘fire to spur an artiste in the hot race for the PAM awards because it will help keep you fresh in the minds of your fans and voters.”

According to Mulindwa, the only solution to this anomaly is to improve the time span between the release of an album and its launch. Only then shall we have real album launches. Until then, let us just keep enjoying the concerts –– I mean the album launches.