What OG Issa did to Malawi Music?

OG Issa is the name that is synonymous with music in Malawi. Either our musicians became so rich or so poor because of this name.

At the time that music produced and marketed in Malawi started coming out, is also the same time that this name made headlines all over.

If it was not in the newspapers then it was on radio stations, if not newspapers, in minibuses, churches and even in songs that musicians used to sing.

Both good and bad stories came through with OG Issa running as the sole music distributor.

Some musicians said OG Issa was an exploitative element in the Malawi music industry albeit with no grounds to substantiate such claims. Others said OG Issa needs to get a sky-scraping recognition for making Malawi music what it has become.

Around 1993-94 when they started operating to now 2012 when they have closed their biggest outlet in Limbe we are roughly talking of about 17 to 18 years in assisting musicians in the country on one hand and boosting his business on the other.

Over the years I have discussed about ‘Greedy and Exploitation in the Music Industry’ on these pages as well as how ‘Distributors Steal from Musicians’.

My argument then as is the case now is that Music is supposed to be the most sellable commodity in Malawi but in the case of the local industry those that are reaping the fruits are not musicians themselves.

Before distributors and marketers were the only beneficiaries in the industry, enjoying the fruits which they played little or no part at all to produce.

They took advantage of the talented and poverty stricken musicians who would bring hot music but had no idea how they could profit out of it and instead what musicians have profited out of such venture is a mere fleeting fame.

Based on my assessment, the 95 percent lion’s share the distributor used to get out of an artist’s music and since there were devoid of bargaining power, they just accepted to be milked without protest.

Now if you look at this kind of share and how much music marketing dealers used to flock to OG Issa you can tell how much money one can make in a period of 18 years.

Unlike government, investors have a time frame within which they are going to operate by investing, market the investment, make profits and head elsewhere, perforated and hissing out smell of money.

If government which has tried to surrender some such businesses by way of privatisation can put in place regulatory means, there is no way someone would just come from the blues, use a bait and throw in a line and once he catches the kind of fish desired, they leave and go.

OG Issa used to be a major music distributor in the country especially at its Limbe shop, which used to carter for the rural areas where local dealers would come and buy music in large numbers.

The reasons that owner Salim Sattar gave in necessitating closure still does not make sense. This is perhaps the case because out of music, Sattar has created many business ventures and because he now cared less about the fate of industry, what he had reaped had satisfied him and what happened to the musician out there never bore any interest in his world of profit making.

This is why along the way it became to be known as ‘OG Issa Group of Companies' and the music section was now referred to as ‘Afri Music Distributors’.

Music gurus are saying distributors are now failing to make obscene profits they have enjoyed over the years because artists have resorted to selling their own music as they are desperately trying to deal with issues piracy which has robbed of their would have been wealth.

O.G Issa has had a share of controversies, remember when Lawrence Mbenjere stopped selling his music through Afri Music after being tipped that the company was allegedly swindling local artists' money through the selling of more tape covers than those initially agreed upon.

This was also the case with late Evison Matafale who was so angry that he broke the counter at the Limbe Shop.

The company acknowledged of bad blood with Mbenjere and at the height of their bitter working relationship it returned to Mbenjere stock of tape covers for his 11 albums amounting to 25 485 copies, a figure that translated to a sum of K637 125.

This only changed when the two signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOC) to resume distributing and selling of his music.

Afri Music's manager Staneck Kulemero told the media at the time that everything would be conducted in a very transparent manner where every detail of their deals will be perfectly documented using a high-tech computer system that will be tallying the tape covers artists bring to the distributor against those that are sold before they can order more from him.

But before this came into effect OG Issa closed. What happened?