OPINION: Dealing With Music As a Business In East Africa Part 1

I’m going to start with the most obvious statement, just to get it out of the way—music is not a business, it’s an art. Business is something you do to make money, art is fun, love and applying skills to entertain and cause change.

But if you are artist man or woman who jerks at the sound of a swirling coin on concrete ground, you need to learn about music as a business because it goes without saying, you are struggling!

It’s not the absolute formulae, but I’ve written down some of the most important things you can look into;

Decide what you want!

It’s not a tough thing to figure out what to do with your art. If it’s business, stop thinking of yourself as an artist ever again, you are a business mind and the art is your product! This means creating a product that has a hungry audience. Competitors will claim you’re not a better artist, especially in Hiphop but yes, remember what we said in the second line.

Make use of various revenue sources

Having multiple revenue streams is a tried and true method of ensuring financial stability in any business. Make your music available in all trusted sources you are assured of getting something in return and solely depend on no one in particular. Simply, don’t cling onto one source as the father and mother, you will starve to death. Sometimes the mother is attending to other kids, and the father is out watching football.

Network

Make friends; artists friends, producer friends, presenter friends, anyone you know that can assist you in the industry. It takes two to tango.

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Be a purple cow, cows are rarely purple

Being unusual is probably a bad idea in other professions, but it’s an asset in this. You know who are purple cows? Astronauts, Nobel Prize winners, Scientists.  To sell art, it helps to grab the fan’s attention by creating works that are distinctly different from what already exists.  It’s also smart for an artist to cultivate an aesthetic that is markedly his or her own.  Famed artists such as Bob Marley, Yung Thug, Miriam Makeba, Sussan Owiyo all have one thing in common: their works look nothing alike. 

Good Marketing Model

You are a brand, place is the ability to market your music, and yourself in the correct manner. Iv’e seen top musicians in Kenya who are very poor in branding/marketing. No hard feelings. Even the most basic things like photos matter. Get a photographer do like 10 proper photos and mail your media contacts, no one wants to use your poor quality Facebook photos. Be a professional, anything that touches you should be of quality. Now I’m not saying this is all, but using this example to illustrate my point: If you don’t promote yourself in the RIGHT way, you won’t go very far at all. 

@Jakaqu; Entertainment writer, columnist Mdundo News