Kassangas Music Shop has announced that they will no longer be selling music.
The music shop was opened in the 90’s, selling physical copies of gospel music on cassettes, and later on CDs.
Japheth and Ann Kassanga who established the shop later expanded to five other locations including Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru.
According to a report on Business Today, the Kassangas are stopping selling music due to the popularity of music streaming.
However, they will continue selling music instruments and religious items such as Bibles.
“I no longer sell music in my shop. I concentrate on selling music instruments and church items like sacrament elements and so on,” Kassanga said in an interview.
With the raising popularity of music streaming, he insisted that artists’ royalties from streaming platforms should be protected.
“Now that we have bowed to piracy and technology is going ahead of the law, we should start thinking of other options like streaming. I was in South Africa a week ago and they say this is the way to go
“They are designing a system called ICRC which is a code that traces any streams of music back to the artiste’s collective management organisation or label and even bars any unauthorised copying. This way, the artistes earn fully from their music downloads and streams,” he said.
Kasanga is a renowned musician, music producer and publisher not only in Kenya but also in East and Central African Regions.
He is the director of Kasanga Music Centre (KMC), Kassanga Music Shops (KMS) and Hitscore Recording Studios among others.
With a catalogue in the market of over 200 productions, Kasanga’s involvement in the music industry spanning more than 30 years.
It has earned him several Awards for his outstanding contribution including Kisima Awards, Groove Awards, Kenya Festival, AFLEWO and the Presidential Recognition Award-OGW.
As one of the founder Directors of KAMP, he has also served as board member in the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) among other boards in the music fraternity and in other Organizations within Kenya.
