Bamako, The Downloaders, 2015
Since two decades, cellphone has created a little revolution in Mali, overcoming the lack of landlines. Its capital, Bamako, has seen come into being new sellers who download popular music as much as diversified.
Called downloaders, these new music merchants took their place in Fankélé Diarra Street that attracts also musicians who want to share their productions. Then music transfers are made very quickly : music tracks and video clips are downloaded on USB flash drive or memory stick and shared via bluetooth signals speeding up new artists discovery. Consequently, without a real network connection, users can reach all coveted music but especially the experienced and shared one.
Yet, multiplication of these new share and illegal transfer shops has changed musicians’ professional practices because of CD sales fall that force them to perform more frequently, such as in Balani Shows, small concerts organized by inhabitants of the same quarter. Social networks are at the same time marketing tools and out of control pirated spaces.
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