Seychellois music available online - ‘Kreol Wave’ a new website to sell music from Seychelles

CDs produced by Seychellois artists on sale at a music store in the Seychelles capital of Victoria. The sale of Seychellois music will soon be available online. (Joe Laurence, Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Music produced by Seychellois musicians will be available to a much wider market soon following the launch of a new website called ‘Kreol Wave’, where Seychellois artists will be able to sell their work.

Created and sponsored by one of Seychelles main telecommunication companies, Cable & Wireless (Seychelles) ‘Kreol Wave’, will sell the original music of Seychellois artists online with copyright protection.

The initiative was launched on Tuesday in the Seychelles capital of Victoria by the Seychelles Musicians Association (SEYMAS) and comes at an appropriate time as the Indian Ocean archipelago celebrates its Creole heritage of traditional music, dance, cuisine as well as other shared values and practices.

The Chairman of SEYMAS, Ralf Amesbury, a well known Seychellois musician said ‘Kreol Wave’ provides an international opening for Seychellois musicians and artists and eventually, could also be used to promote Seychelles national events such as the annual Carnaval Internationale de Victoria, Festival Creole and other cultural events organized by the Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

The 'Kreol Wave' website was presented to the public on Tuesday. (Joe Laurence, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

Songs by Seychellois artists on the online store are expected to sell at $1 per song while a full album will cost almost $9, all of which can be purchased and downloaded at the click of the button using a credit card.

SEYMAS hopes that within two months’ time a mobile version of the website will also be made available.

A SEYMAS and SACS collaboration

Amesbury explained that SEYMAS has worked closely with the Seychelles Authors and Composers Society (SACS) to realize this project with emphasis placed on combating piracy and duplication of music produced by local artists.

“This should be seen as a major step in the protection of musical copyrights for our local artists,”said Amesbury, adding that only musicians and artists registered with SACS will be considered for the website.

In a world where compact discs are becoming obsolete, the chairman of SACS, David Andre told SNA in a phone interview that “this is a commendable initiative” which will help to promote Seychellois artists and culture all around the world.

However, Andre says SACS, which is the guardian of the copyright and royalties of Seychellois music “will see how the project progress and intervene if necessary to protect the rights of artists of Seychelles.”

The initiative has also been welcomed by individual artists as well.

"I am quite in favor of innovative ideas that can allow artists to receive the fruits of their labour and it is even better if our copyrights are protected," Joe Samy, a Seychellois artist much appreciated for his creole songs, told SNA.

Speaking at the launching of the new website on Tuesday, the Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St Ange, congratulated SEYMAS and SACS for having taken such an initiative to deliver the online project adding that ‘Kreol Wave’ will go a long way towards helping to fight against piracy of Seychellois music.

“Musical piracy has always been a great concern for Seychellois musicians, whereby their works have been dubbed and sold at cheaper prices, with no revenue going to the original artist,” said St Ange who also called on local artists to support this initiative by registering their works and thus benefit from the opportunity to sell their music worldwide.

The website, which will be accessible on www.kreolwave.com, is expected to go live during the first week of November.