During the early years of its rebirth from 1999 there was euphoria in the Sierra Leonean music industry, when the industry benefited from massive support from all sectors of society. A vast majority of the national population appreciated the music and it rhythm at the time,and contributed immensely by promoting shows, attending launchings and purchasing the local artists’ CDs.

Now,there seems to be a decline in popularityof the artists and even their songs performed at launchings. Whereas in previous years a lauching would fill the 35,000 capacity National Stadium, the overall turnout for a launching for 2006 and 2007 marks a huge blow for the music business with sometimes as few as 200 people scattered among the same arena. There are wider speculations that the industry may even collapse.

This situation is not a welcoming one especially for the local artists whose only source of income is music. The Cassette Seller Association (CSA), the main cassette distributing company in the country, has complained  about the loss in sales for 2006/2007 as compared to the previous years. It says one of the major problems the music industry is facing currently is piracy. Artist Unite, a group made up of local artists, have stated their grievances to the government in order to establish an anti-Piracy act to give the artists their fare rewards.

At the same time the producers and stakeholders in the music industry have described this phenomenon as a ”TRANSFORMATION” in the music business and this event may eventually have a positive outcome.

The artists would like to seek innovation and see a new style in the music industry. The public would also appreciate this. The artist want wider coverage for their music  and want to be exposed to the international stage. Nationally Salone has a well deserved reputation for producing good music and talent. With the correct support from the music industry let them  also develop this reputation world wide. Everyone will certainly be a winner.