Flowking Stone
Musician Flowking Stone, born Kwaku Nsia Boama, has said it becoming increasingly difficult to promote music in Ghana.
In an interview on 3FM Drive with Giovani Caleb, the rapper reflected on how the landscape of music promotion has dramatically changed over the years, making it more challenging for artists to gain visibility and success.
Flowking Stone explained that in the past, music promotion was primarily the responsibility of producers who funded the entire process.
This included paying for radio slots, DJs, and other promotional activities. However, with the rise of the internet, the sale of CDs plummeted, and many producers shifted their focus to the booming Kumawood movie industry, leaving musicians to fend for themselves.
This transition led to the rise of “Indie artistes,” who were forced to manage and fund their own promotions.
He highlighted that the shift has placed a heavy financial burden on artistes, as they are now responsible for covering the costs of promoting their music on radio, TV, and digital platforms.
According to Flowking Stone, this is particularly difficult because most artists do not have the financial resources needed to sustain such large promotional budgets.
“Those days when we used to come to radio, there were the producers who used to drop our songs and fund it.
“Take the songs to the DJs and pay them. Now, it got to a time when the producers left to go do movies when Kumawood was at the top and music was not working like that,” Flowking Stone recalled.
He further explained that while the emergence of platforms like TikTok has given some hope to artistes, the costs associated with promoting music on such platforms have skyrocketed.
“The funny thing is that TikTok is the last hope and they started charging more than all the others. So now the job is difficult, so you can blow on TikTok and if you don’t have good friends on radio, it will not go,” he added.
Despite the presence of record labels, Flowking Stone believes the situation has not improved significantly, as artists still struggle to finance their promotional efforts.
He is currently promoting his ‘Decision’ album, which was released last year while he was in the UK. The album features collaborations with artistes like King Paluta, Mr Drew, and Morphty.