Donlu – A Digital Hub For Namibian Music

Purchasing tracks online (or simply streaming them) has proven to be the preferred way of accessing music for a lot of music enthusiasts all over the world.

Online music stores have started replacing traditional retail stores at a rapid pace and Donlu Namibia is at the forefront of this phenomenon in Namibia.

spoke to founder Llewelyn Adams about the dynamics of online music stores and how they make Namibian music more accessible both locally and internationally.

Founded in 2015, Donlu is one of Namibia’s premier online music and merchandise stores where musicians and artists in the creative space can sell their albums, single tracks and any products affiliated to their brands.

Narrating his journey, Adams said good artists are making good music, but they lack a platform to share their music with fans abroad.

“The goal is to expose Namibian music to the international market and, at the same time, ensure the artists reap something from this which has not been the case with similar stores,” said Adams.

Describing the features and usability of the site, Adams shared that artists can submit their music accompanied by the artwork directly to the website.

He mentioned that Donlu believes in quality, therefore they do not tamper with the songs by putting watermarks on them.

“The quality of songs they upload is the same quality the fans can expect through free downloads or through purchases,” said Adams.

For music lovers, there are features that allow downloads, streaming or buying music using convenient methods of payments including the PayToday app, PayPal, credit/debit cards and EFT (for Namibians and the rest of the world). If you reside in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia, you can use MTN Mobile Money, Tigo Pesa, Vodacom and Airtel.

With the PayToday app, you have to complete the process on donluafrica.com, go to the PayToday app and search for Donlu.

Then select the song as a product, enter your order which you get from the website and make a payment.

“Once you are done, you can return to our website and find the songs or albums at the ‘Downloads’ section under the ‘My Account’ tab,” said Adams, adding that they continuously strive to make the process as easy as possible and have as many payment options available to not only cater to Namibians but also international buyers.

Pointing out how the remuneration process works for artists who have submitted their music for sale, Adam said that Donlu does bi-monthly payouts directly to the accounts as provided by the artists. “We have a 85/15 profit share split, with the artists taking 85% of the profits.”

Adams revealed that since the website’s upgrade in June, the store has had over 50 000 visitors on average monthly from all over the world. At the moment, KK and Tswazi’s ‘Khaima’ is the most downloaded song with 16 865 downloads, while Sally Boss Madam’s ‘Ecstasy’ is the most streamed song with 34 194 streams.

Despite the success of the store, Adams mentioned that they have endured certain challenges such as getting artists on board. “It took a lot to convince some artists to try out my online store and believe in what I do,” he said.

On the challenges, Tasha Mununga, one of the management members of Donlu, said that it is difficult to work with some artists as they do not adhere to certain requirements. “We ask artists to send us their music via email but some of them just ignore and send via WhatsApp which compresses the quality of the audio,” complained Mununga.

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