AKA TV finally has a launch date and for the first time in weeks, we have gotten hold of all the information you need to know.
The Mega plan to avert COVID-19 crisis on artists
Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes kicked off this new content rollout with a tweet that painted a grim reality for the future of South African entertainment.
The assumptions we drew from this was that AKA was on the verge of launching a new income stream for his brand since live performances — which make up for about 80% of an artist’s revenues — aren’t going to be in the fold for a while, no thanks to coronavirus (COVID-19).
AKA TV: When is Mega’s content hub launching?
On Wednesday, our guesses were justified when the man himself confirmed that AKA TV, a hub of premium AKA content, will be launching on Friday 8 May on iOS and Android devices.
When we published a story on this earlier in the week, we had no insight into how he was going to set up this hub. Is he going to charge users a monthly fee or will be open it up as a free service and overkill us with advertising?
According to Vth Season’s Raphael Benza, the former is a more suited model for AKA TV.
“The launch of #AKATV is testament to Kiernan’s progressiveness and forward-thinking is a musician and businessman. This is something he has wanted to do for a long time and we’re proud to see this initiative come to fruition,” Benza noted in a statement.
Outside of the airy-fairy assertions in the statement, this is a very smart business move by the Touch My Blood rapper. Unlike DJs, singers and rappers have been hit the hardest by this nationwide lockdown.
Digitised concerts, without the backing of an expensive technical solutions provider, are not worth investing in and artists are not agile enough to adapt to the environment COVID-19 has placed them in.
How much is AKA TV subscription fee?
Fans of AKA who want a peep inside the life of the megastar and see what goes on behind the lens of his Instagram Stories will have to pay a monthly subscription fee of R49.
This, coupled with the announcement of new music that is coming our way in about two weeks, is a progressive strategy for the Mega to maintain solvency until things return to normal.
We still aren’t privy to the whole nine-yards of what will come on Friday but we expect the 32-year-old to make more announcements when he addresses his fans tonight.
