Mpaka Records boss Ykee Benda has opened up about the grave dangers of releasing albums with too many songs in this era of streaming, noting that bloated albums can lead to fans abandoning the albums.
The self-styled Kireka Boy explains that when a listener encounters an album with a long track list, they are more likely to lose interest if they do not connect with the first five songs. This means that hidden gems will remain unnoticed because of the song selection.
“The problem I find in releasing albums with many songs is that when I put out an album, the people who want to listen will come and stream it. If they do not get a song they love in the first song, he will lose interest. That also means you failed them on selection” he said.
To curb this issue, Ykee Benda advocates for shorter albums with more curated song selections that will help artists keep their listeners interested by giving them opportunities to discover their favorite songs. This will also increase the number of streams for the particular album.
“If you have like 40 songs and the songs he expects to enjoy are among the last ones, that means he will never get to listen to them. The shorter the album, the more distributed your songs will get to your fans,” Ykee Benda.
Many artists release these albums and upload them on digital platforms without making an effort to contact media houses to advertise their music, and if they do, they choose uptown stations without doing all round interviews. Ykee Benda encourages not only to rely on uploading music on digital platforms, waiting for people to stream but also to put in extra work in promotion if they want their new music to go far.
Personally, I first went digital but I have never ignored my deejays, radio, and television stations because they have a large audience who will choose to tune in rather than use their smartphones,” he said.
Ykee Benda is set to release his Extended Play (E.P) and is gearing up to visit every major city in the country to meet his fans up close and promote his music.
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The truth is when your fans from upcountry see you face to face for once and get time to interact with them, they will never leave you.
No one can ever love what we do without seeing how much you love your work. I encourage artists that if you release a massive project like an album, move from station to station so that the entire nation sees you talking about your work that entire week; that is promotion,” he stated.
