Flabbz reaps benefits of Internet

 

music and piracy in other cases, some aspiring artistes have had a different experience with it.

One of these artistes is a 21-year-old college student, who is also an up-coming gospel rap artist, Flabbz, real name, Ashton Mukonowenzou who recently released a 7-track gospel hip-hop album titled “Staera Muna Jesu”.

Speaking during an interview, Flabbz said as an up-coming rapper, he took advantage of numerous opportunities provided by the internet to promote his new album.
He said he uploaded his album’s title track “Staera Muna Jesu” on an on-line audio distribution platform named SoundCloud which artistes use to promote their music and which also allows free internet access or downloads of the music by internet users.

“When I uploaded my track “Staera Muna Jesu” on SoundCloud it received 100 downloads in four days. That was when I realised people were enjoyed my music. After downloads were exhausted, since SoundCloud only allows 100 downloads per each upload, many requested that I upload the track again.

“So I created another internet link on Reverb Nation. That’s where I now direct people interested in downloading my song. Downloads on Reverb Nation cannot be exhausted.
“I believe the internet is very good especially for promotional purposes but it can be a problem if you are interested in making money through album sales. Instead of buying the music in shops people will just download it freely from the internet. You may block the downloads but people will still play the songs on-line” said Flabbz

Internet platforms such as SoundCloud can be combined or linked to social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to allow for wider distribution of a music file.
Flabbz said he took advantage of SoundCloud’s additional features which included one’s ability to put his phone numbers on a music file. He said this option allowed people to channel their feedback direct to him through phoning, and this helped to further promote his music brand.

He said he first became involved in music after he met a guy named ZimbaNice on Facebook who rans a music-competition on his Facebook page titled ZimbaNice Free Style Battle last year.

“On his page, all we did was post our free style bars. These are lines/lyrics to a composition. We call them bars in rap music. So you can post your lines and people vote by liking your lines” said Flabbz.

He said there were 50 participants on the competition and out of these, top 30 participants were chosen and a Facebook page was created for them which they named “Unsung263”.

Some of the members on this group are also featured on his album and these include Print (Method Mawere), Noble Stylez (Prince Butawu), Rhymfest (Usheunesu Ncube), Stylez-A (Augustin Joseph) and Cst (Thomas Chizhanje).

“The idea of the competition was to afford young artiste an opportunity to expose their talent and creativity. So after this guy (ZimbaNice) created for us this page which we named Unsung 263, we then encouraged each other to begin recording our songs” he said.

He added that he recorded his first two songs titled “Unozovepi” and “Stayera Muna Jesu” which were his contribution to a collaboration album titled “Unsung 263 take over” that was compiled by 13 members of his Unsung 263 group last year.

He later recorded five more songs which he joined with his first two songs to complete his hip-hop album.
Recorded at Mount Zion Records and SKG Records, Flabbz’s album includes tracks such as “Staera Muna Jesu”, “Ndodada naJesu”, “Victory in Christ”, “Shoko raMwari”, “Mwari Ndinouya”, “Game On Press On”, and “Unozovepi”.

Commenting on why he chose hip-hop for his style of music, Flabbz said as a youth he enjoyed the genre and that he believed hip-hop gospel was more appreciated by younger Christians.

He said he was also inspired by his mother who enjoyed his music, and artistes such as Mudiwa, and American based gospel hip-hop artist Flame.
He also said he is currently working on his next album titled “Jesus Positive” which he described as basically communicating the message that Jesus lives in his life.

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