Gone are the days artistes like Amakye Dede, Nana Kwmae Ampadu, J.A Adofo, the Late Paa Bobo etc with the aid of concert promoters toured most rural areas and regional capitals of Ghana just to get close to their fans and make money for themselves.
The story has changed and hardly would you see or hear musicians going on such tours, even though some have blamed the issue on lack of finances and influx of radio and television station.
Discussing this issue on Anigye Mmre on Onua 95.1 FM, award-winning dancehall artiste Samini said due to social media, touring rural areas is not lucrative enough because fans can now get access to artiste on their social media platforms.
“Touring rural areas is not as common as those days, because of modern ways of doing things and how accessible artistes have become on social media,” he told host Christian Agyei Frimpong.
“Today you can go on an artiste’s Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and know the daily routine of that particular artiste. The urge to see your artiste is not intense as it used to be in the past.
“When I released my first album in 2004, I did a nationwide tour, it was more of exhibiting my songs for my fans to be happy. Business-wise, you need lots of support to be able to do that and come back with some sort of profits.
“Now artistes are just waiting for promoters to stage events for them to pass through and take their money, instead of you the artiste going on such tour and if you don’t take care you might run at a loss.”
Samini said the advent of social media, replacing cassettes, give people access to even events an artiste may be performing at and “they could sit anywhere they are and watch you live on Facebook”.
“I’m about to start my tour, but you (artiste) need sponsors on board to make sure you will come back with something,” he said about ‘My Own Bus’ tour.
“As an artiste, you need a certain pedigree to attract corporate people to come help you to make something but if you think people are going on tour in rural areas so you want to also join you will come back with empty hands”.
By Emmanuel Agyemang|3news.com|Ghana