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Article Title: An Investigation into the Prospects and Challenges Faced by Zimbabwean and Kenyan Musicians and Music Production Houses at the Advent of Digitization and Digitalization in Africa
by Nyasha Mapuwei (Dr) and Gladys Kemunto-Orina

Abstract:
Digitization and digitalization took the Zimbabwean and Kenyan music landscape by storm. Beginning at the turn of the second millennium, an unprecedented influx and adoption of digital equipment and movement from analog to digital took centre stage. Instead of harnessing the benefits found in new technology, most African musicians cried foul to piracy. An unstoppable piracy regime rendered the age-old production and recording equipment in Zimbabwe and Kenya obsolete. Production houses folded. Musicians went bankrupt. Some even changed the trade and went into farming. Some production houses became rented Churches. The situation was going out of hand. The few musicians that remained in the industry survived on live show performances. The old guard could not cop up with new technology. However, with new technology there emerged a new crop of musicians and producers. Suddenly, musicians could record under trees, in bedrooms and backyard makeshift production houses. New names of producers and musicians emerged. The new generation had harnessed the digitization and the digitalization process in Africa. This paper seeks to unpack the challenges that yesteryear musicians faced at the advent new technology in the African music industry landscape. The paper also seeks to demonstrate the prospects and positives brought about by the advent of new technology in the music industry. Research methods utilized include archival research, interviews, hermeneutics and textual analysis. Theories that influenced the research include technological determinism, social construction, uses and gratification and the new media theories. The paper found out that digitalization and digitization has made production in the music industry easier and convenient. The adoption of new technology make things simple as only skills are needed for one to own music production. Capital to start a music production has been reduced to next to nothing. The digital era has proved to have increased the distribution means of music material. Digitization has also improved the movement of information in a shorter period of time as well as enhancing reproductions. As such, instead of seeing the coming of technology in the negative sense, modern day musicians and producers should harness new technology for the betterment of quality production at cheaper cost.

Keywords: digitalization, music, piracy

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