Nikki Z promises more transparency at Hapilos

Icons Chaka Demus and Pliers recently told THE STAR that they had never seen a statement showing the revenues from the sales of their triple platinum-selling album 'Murder She Wrote' and that they did not benefit from its success financially.

The same sentiment has been shared by other recording artistes in recent times, with veteran reggae artiste Phillip Frazer recently telling THE STAR that he has lost confidence in distributors and prefers to distribute his musical manually so that he can accurately account for the sale of his art.

With those concerns in mind, distribution company 21st Hapilos has created a web-based online royalty processing system titled the Client Dashboard. This will allow clients to have access to their analytics, including sales data and earnings as they are reported by the various online retailers.

KEEP TABS ON SALES

The Dashboard will enable creators to select different parameters to keep tabs on sales and earnings in countries that are consuming reggae music. It will also provide a means of manually tracking the success of specific tracks or albums over the respective agents like downloads, streaming, and ring tones.

According to new vice-president of content at Hapilos, Nikki Z, the Dashboard will eliminate discrepancies or concerns usually raised by creators about their royalty statements.

"One of the main concerns expressed to me by producers since joining the 21st Hapilos team is how difficult it is to understand the monthly statement currently being issued by our company. Some clients were concerned that we were not transparent enough in the reporting of sales to our clients. I made it my priority to change that. I am happy that the company's president and board of directors accepted my recommendation. I will continue to make decisions that will benefit our clients," she said.

The former media personality, who replaced veteran producer Johnny Wonder earlier this year, also noted that her road map to success involves putting clients first and improving transparency.

"I am aiming to be very proactive with our clients in getting to know their expectations and also being very clear and transparent about what it is we can provide as a distribution service. From this point on, I want everyone we cater to, to feel secure in knowing we are working tirelessly to reinvent and find new ways to market and push sales of our music," she told THE STAR.

The Client Dashboard is expected to be in full effect by July 1, 2017.