Musician's app helps Kenyan creatives sell music and merchandise - WTVB

NAIROBI (Reuters) – In pinkish trousers and a matching puffer jacket, Grammy-nominated Kenyan instrumentalist Bien-Aime Alusa gyrates connected signifier arsenic helium sings to a slope of swaying fans, galore capturing the infinitesimal connected their mobile phones.

When the curtain drops connected the performance successful Nairobi, Alusa keeps making connections and nett done a integer streaming and outgo platform, HustleSasa, which helium co-founded to assistance artists retrieve from revenues mislaid to the coronavirus lockdown.

HustleSasa, which officially launched successful November 2021, allows the singer-songwriter and chap creatives to watercourse euphony oregon merchantability branded merchandise, performance tickets, food, manner and different services successful 1 mobile telephone application.

Artists oregon vendors merchantability their products straight to the market, with nary set-up costs oregon monthly fees, and person outgo instantly via slope paper oregon mobile money, avoiding costly commissions charged by immoderate apps.

“Our portion has 1 of the lowest payout rates successful the satellite from different streaming platforms, but connected HustleSasa you are getting worth for wealth successful existent time,” Alusa said.

Glena Jiwani, who owns the manner boutique Pink Savannah successful the superior Nairobi, said it has allowed her to grow her concern online, and support tabs connected banal and sales. “I did not adjacent person a website but present it’s truthful easy,” she said.

Yaba, different Kenyan musician, said the app’s streaming work allows him to marque much wealth and to link straight to his audience. “As a musician who is warring his mode to the top, erstwhile it comes to streaming it’s not similar the different platforms,” helium said astatine his workplace successful Rongai, occidental Kenya.

Alusa said helium is successful talks to dispersed operations crossed the continent, from Ghana to South Africa.

“It’s the aboriginal of ticketing, it’s the aboriginal of selling merch, it’s the aboriginal wherever we are going to person the powerfulness and aboriginal successful our hands.”

(Reporting by Jefferson Kahinju, penning by Hereward Holland, editing by Mark Heinrich)