IT has been a year since the biggest distributor of physical copies of Namibian CDs, Djokic Dragan, partnered with Engen outlets to sell Namibian music.
In an interview with The Namibian, Dragan, popularly known as Antonio, was adamant that petrol stations are convenient places to distribute CDs. Antonio has made progress with this initiative and is positive that in the next year, he will be able to cover the entire country.
“Engen has given me permission to sell Namibian music at their 57 outlets countrywide. So far, we distribute to 30 of these 57 service stations.”
“Because Engen does not have branches in every town, I have also approached other petrol service stations including Total, Shell and Puma,” added Antonio.
He shared that he has received overwhelming support from artists, fans and the Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (Nascam). He is positive that distributing CDs at these outlets will reduce piracy at least by 60%.
“The support from artists is more than I expected; the same with Nascam. Nascam will soon call a meeting with the top 15 best-selling artists and myself to give them a first official progress report.”
Commenting on how the internet has affected the sales of physical copies in Namibia, Antonio said online music stores are good for the industry as they give music consumers options. “Physical copies are still going to be a thing in Namibia for probably the next 10 years before we migrate to a digital format. Namibians consume music the traditional way; there are those who still collect physical copies and others have to buy these physical copies for their jukeboxes,” he said.
Top Cheri, the only female artist on Antonio’s Art’s January top 10 list, attributes the absence of female artists to online music stores. “We have different audiences. This list is for physical copies, other female artists may have a stronger audience online,” she said.
1. ‘Uukalata’ – D-Kandjafa
2. ‘Ondjeke’ – Tate Buti
3. ‘Misunderstood’ – Gazza
4. ‘Gratitude’ – Ndilimani
5. ‘Fertile’ – Top Cheri
6. ‘The Eternal Government 2’
– Young T
7. ‘Medina La Mesias’ – Bantu
8. ‘Ondakula’
– Jomolizo and Shitana
9. ‘Elungi Longhoshi’ – Nakale
10. ‘Olumosho Nolulyo’
– Satlam and Mjay
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