Daniel Brothers, known to their parents as Fikile Ngobeni (Flex) and Ntwanano Mhlongo (Ntwa); hail from dusty streets of Msiphana village under N’wamitwa Traditional Authority.
The duo has just released their third studio album titled Elevated with 14 hot tracks and it has featured well known artists from around the African continent.
Elevated is now available in most record bars around Johannesburg, Pretoria, Polokwane, Tzaneen, Giyani, Malamulele and all Dakota Music Stores countrywide. It is also available on all digital and streaming platforms including iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Joox, YouTube Music, Deezer, Amazon, Rhapsody and Pandora among others.
The album has reached number 14 on South Africa’s top selling album on Google Play Music alone in the first week of release. It has currently sold more than 10 000 units digitally and more than 3000 physical copies so far.
WHY SHOULD YOU BUY PHYSICAL COPIES OF MUSIC
Downloading music is without a doubt the most popular form of purchase in the current music industry. Millions of people use iTunes, Spotify, Google Play and other services to listen to their favourite artists and genres. Digital distribution is a relatively new phenomenon, however; for the majority of the music industry in South Africa, fans and listeners purchase physical copies of music. In fact, physical purchase of music is still a common option here in South Africa and there are benefits to purchasing music in a physical form that digital copies can’t provide. Take a look at the following reasons.
SAFETY OF OWNERSHIP
When you buy a CD, you own a copy of the music that you have purchased and as long as you don’t break it or lose it, that copy will be yours forever. With digital music, however; most companies don’t give you right of ownership, they only give you the listening right, which means they can revoke it at any time. Furthermore, music stored on the cloud or on a computer is only good as long as the technology holds up and any kind of failure means your music is gone for good.
SUPPORTING YOUR FAVOURITE BANDS
When you buy a physical copy of your favourite band’s music, you are most likely ensuring they get paid. For most streaming sites, bands make very little cash of each listen and unless they are highly popular, these sites don’t guarantee them a living. Sites like iTunes are better because you pay for each song, but because you can buy songs individually and albums are discounted as a whole. A physical copy, however; makes sure your band makes a good amount of profit for their work and will keep them making your favourite songs for much longer.
BETTER QUALITY
Most people agree that physical copies of music actually are higher quality than digital forms of the same songs. This is because music in digital form is compressed or blended together to make it smaller and easier to send. Music on CD, however; is not making it sound deeper and better. Vinyl takes this quality to another level and often has even deeper sound than CDs, referred to as “fidelity”.
IT’S FUN TO COLLECT
Anyone who loves something gets enjoyment out of collecting different examples, and music is no exception. Digital music is just a list on a screen, but a shelf full of records or CDs shows visitors just how much you love music. Furthermore, having that physical collection on hand gives your guests insight into your taste and may just spring up a fun conversation. There are plenty of other pros to buying physical copies of music instead of digital, and these are only a few. However, there is no doubt that buying music in its physical form has benefits that digital can’t provide and you may find yourself preferring that CD over the MP3 file at the end of the day.
