Newwave has been licensed as a music distribution and publishing company.

Run by prolific business and music manager Nthangwanika Kondowe, the company has been around since 2020.

Ntha as she is popularly known said she and team have been getting  recommendations on how to commercialise: "Most suggestions centered on a “record label” or uploading music to streaming platforms on behalf of the artist. A record label was entirely out of the question, I knew I didn’t have the resources for that and uploading music to DSPs is something I teach artists to do on their own, it feels more like a social responsibility and not my life’s work.

"So we simply continued making playlists; we've curated over a 100 playlists with 1000+ songs, and we've seen the impact this has had on Malawi's streaming culture; the contributions we've made are timeless, no one can take that away from us.

"Early last year, my team and I went knocking on COSOMA’s door hoping to register a music distribution and publishing company. You can imagine the hassle, there’s no working example within our industry for this.

"We place a lot of pressure on our artists, but it's not totally up to them to shape and structure a whole industry. There are a lot of gaps that need filling, honestly, it's not up to them to fill all those gaps.

"After going back and forth with Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) to figure out what this looks like on paper, Newwave is now a fully registered and licensed music distribution and publishing company. The vision is to expand the capacity of already existing Malawian spaces (tv, radio, film, advertising and public places) to include more Malawian music through us.

"By curating, publishing, and distributing it more intentionally, this not only benefits the performing artist, but also the songwriters, producers, and engineers who helped create the music."

She said this is a global, worldwide effort to increase access to Malawian music and not just a local endeavor.