Namibia: Spar now stocks Namibian music

FMCG SUPPLIER NEWS

Namibian.com.na - May 28th, 09:57

Distribution of Namibian music has been a true reflection of the current state of the industry as a whole, and can only be described as disorganised due to the lack of proper distribution channels, with artists being left to do it on their own. 

Last year the organisers of the Namibia Annual Music Awards, MTC even had to do away with the Best Selling Artist category because there has never been sufficient proof of the number of sales that artists make. This is because most artists sell their music from the back of their cars.

Another major setback Namibian music faces is the sad fact that local music is not sold in popular music retailers like Musica and CNA.

Because of these poor distribution channels, very often local music is hard for music fans to get hold of, especially for fans in far reaching areas or even outside the country. But even in Windhoek, finding your favourite artist’s album can sometimes prove to be a challenge. Especially since Universal Sounds, the one shop that stocked local music in the the centre of Windhoek, closed its doors last year.

For the past three months local music is already available on the shelves of five Spar supermarkets around the country, including Spar Hochland Park in Windhoek as well as the Spar Otavi, Spar Otjiwarongo, Spar Rosh Pinah and Spar Luderitz.

Twenty one Spar Supermarkets across the country will soon stock Namibian music thanks to the efforts of Dragan ‘Antonio’ Djokic, the owner of Antonio’s Art.

“I have been selling Namibian music from my stand in Post Street Mall, but I decided to approach Spar Supermarket to supply them with local music. So far it is going well, the people now have access to the music and the music is selling very well.”

Supervisor at Spar Hochland Park, Joe Edward says that the sale of local music in the supermarket has been well received by the public. “So far so good, we started with only a few albums, but because of the high demand we increased the number and now we are selling around 20 different artists albums here.”

Edward says that in the past the supermarket only stocked South African music, but it did not sell well. “I really think it is a good idea that we are now selling our own music, the reaction of the customers is positive and at N$109 price is reasonable.”

According to Edward, artists who want their music sold in their shop have to go through Antonio’s Art to avoid dealing with too many people. “Artists have already come to us to ask how they can get their albums on our shelves but we send them to Antonio’s Art because we only want to deal with one supplier.”