A 20-year-old university student has developed a mobile phone software that will help musicians to track their songs and increase their returns.
Dennis Irungu from Kamahuha village has said the app that he has dubbed Virtual Media Security (VMS) will make it possible for artistes to earn from a song every time it is shared amongst their fans.
The artiste will have to upload a song on the app before it is released to the public and after that, every person who receives it on their devices will have to pay Sh. 5 to be able to play it.
Irungu says artistes will also have to agree with their producers to ensure the song is uploaded on the app before it is released.
The youngster is a second year student at Kenyatta University where he is studying Mathematics and Computer Science.
When he is not at school, Irungu works in his father’s cyber Café at Igikiro village in Maragua Sub County, Murang’a County.
It is here that Irungu has been able to develop his talent that started showing when he was a young boy.
He said the thought about the app after seeing so many musicians complaining about the meager returns they make from their songs, many only benefiting from the concerts they are invited to.
Some artistes, he noted, are shocked to hear their songs playing before they are officially released as producers collude with other artistes to steal upcoming talent.
All this will however be a thing of the past if the artistes embrace his innovation, he points out.
Once a song is uploaded onto the app, it is challenge to remove it which he said provides security to a song.
From the Sh. 5 charged every time the song is shared, the artiste receives 40 percent while the rest goes towards the maintenance of the software.
“This software will be able to track every sale or sharing the song goes through and ensure the singer is paid for it,” he said.
A fan will however be required to pay for the song only once until they change their mobile phone.
“The more the song is shared, the bigger the network of earning it will create for the its owner and it will continue to earn indefinitely,” he said.
He however noted that he had no prior knowledge of creating software and that he taught himself.
“I have not yet graduated so I am not doing this out of experience. This means there may be some information I have missed,” he said.
He said he would appreciate the help of more experienced software developers to streamline the app and make it more efficient.
“But we have to first agree on how the help will come to safeguard the integrity of the software,” he quickly added.
He said the server in which the software will store the uploaded songs may not sustain it for a long time especially if many artistes embrace it and hopes to be able to upgrade it in the future.
The VMS, he said, is the beginning of good change in the Music sector. It will ensure artistes reap from their sweat and make it hard for others to shortchange them.
“I know many people fear change and every new thing is treated with apprehension but I assure musicians that this app will secure their songs in a way that was impossible before,” he said.
Irungu’s father, Thomas Mwangi lauded his son’s achievement saying he loved technology from his childhood.
Irungu would take his mobile phone and computers and do things that shocked him as he grew up, he said.
After completing his secondary education, Mwangi said he had asked Irungu to pursue a teaching career but he flatly refused saying he wanted to pursue computer science.
“I am very happy with his progress and I have supported him in every way possible, sometimes even stopping my own projects to support him,” he said.
The application, he said, required financial support to succeed and asked the government and well wishers to step in and help him expand his talent.
He said Irungu is capable of doing so much more with more support and that he will make much more technological innovations with time.
He also urged parents to stop forcing their children to pursue things that they are not interested in and instead support their interests.