By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
NetOne Group Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Raphael Mushanawani has given until next week to resolve an impasse between the giant mobile operator and gospel artists over the newly launched Application called Rumbidzo/Khulekani.
This emerged at an engagement session held Friday in Harare between NetOne and Zimbabwean gospel musicians where they raised concern over their return on investment.
Eng Mushanawani said he expected a framework next week which will ensure a win-win situation for NetOne and gospel artists.
“NetOne has to derive value from the artists. How do we make it attractive that artists bring value and the artists earn value or return on their investment.
“May I ask my team to engage with the artists, it’s a directive I’m giving because I’m seeing a gap that needs to be closed as quickly as possible. I need a framework in my office after a week it could be a revenue share model and also we need to look into what else we can do something that’s unqiue,” he said.
The new App is an entertainment service that captivates the mass market with a variety of religious content available to ALL denominations.
The service requires a user to download the APP from Playstore to access and navigate live and pre-recorded sermons, music and videos.
Rumbidzo/Khulekani empowers subscribers with the freedom to cho0se when to listen to a pre-recorded show at their own time.
One of the top gospel artists Pastor Stanley Gwanzura aka Pastor G had asked how the new app would give value to artists considering that artists spend big budgets on recording and producing videos.
Pastor G also noted that without the support of artists the new App would be as good as dead since there were other platforms that they can upload their music and video like YouTube which pay more.
“For instance, I used about US$300 to record just one song and for those who record an album it can go up to US$20000. So what I want to know is how NetOne is going to ensure that we have a ‘real’ partnership,” Pastor G said.
Another gospel musician Tembalami said there was need for NetOne to put a budget to that artists can exclusively produce content for the new Rumbidzo/Khulekani app.
Pastor Lawrence Haisa also raised the issue of welfare of artists saying they need to make business.
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