Better late than never, wake up to the digital world - Diana Hamilton to colleague musicians

Gospel musician, Diana Hamilton, has advised her colleague musicians to utilize opportunities of online video-sharing and streaming platforms to enhance their music careers.

Diana Hamilton urged her fellow gospel musicians not to lose sight of the digital age which has become the new world.

She was responding to recent comments by gospel singer Ernest Opoku that streaming platforms benefit secular artistes than gospel artistes.

According to Ernest Opoku, gospel musicians do not make money from the streaming platforms, hence he wished for the old ways of making profits from the sale of music CDs.

"The secular artistes benefit a lot from YouTube and other streaming platforms but not gospel musicians. The secular acts get huge monies from there when they upload their songs but the gospel artistes hardly benefit and I am just being real."

"Some of the gospel musicians will say they make money from streaming but trust me it is a lie because I talk to a lot of them. They probably have sponsors who support them," he said.

“Let Sarkodie, Stonebwoy and Shatta Wale release a new song right now, you will see how the DJs and the fans will rush for it and download so they can make money, but we gospel musicians rather have to pay for our songs to be played. Ay Poyoo just got one million views on YouTube for his goat song, and I don’t think any gospel musician would have gotten those views despite their talent. Back in the days when we had producers behind us, we could sell CDs and make a lot of money for our next projects.

“Imagine about 800 people buying my CDs at GH¢5 in churches, not to talk about my fans, and I was good to go. if I release a song and spend money to shoot a video, pay a sound engineer, and not get close to half of what I put in, then what’s the point? What am I doing with $300 when I spent over $1,000 on that particular song? After uploading on YouTube, I now have to pay DJs and television stations to get the song played. We are not doing well and any gospel musician who will disagree with me probably has a sponsor pushing his or her works," he further argued.

But speaking in an interview with host Kwasi Aboagye on Peace FM's 'Entertainment Review', Diana Hamilton objected to Ernest Opoku's assertions.

She said some gospel musicians failed to acknowledge the digital world and so they lag behind when it comes to digitization and monetization of their music products online.

On the part where Ernest Opoku said the streaming sites are more beneficial to secular artistes, Diana Hamilton argued that "if you haven't gone into somebody's farm, you might think your farm is the biggest or you're making the big income but the truth is everyone feeds his or her child . . . Cost is being covered and God is continually blessing us."

"Better late than never like they say. It's patience but then also knowing the right roots to channel your energy and also those with the knowledge to help you. God has been gracious and given me people who are hands-on, always reading; management team that are always working behind the scene to make things work. So, those who didn't catch up early, like I said, better late than never. Let's build relationships. These things are based on relationships. A DJ will pick up your song and play not because you paid the person any money but because maybe they like you as a person, maybe the song you're doing is great; maybe the work you're doing is great," she said.