WE NEED TO GET PAID - Part 1

I think it is time for one of those blog posts/rants again. And unfortunately 140 characters on Twitter are not enough, so allow me to get this off my chest once and for all.

We all know that our music industry infrastructure here in South Africa isn’t exactly on par with the rest of the world but we are growing and we are doing much better than we used to but there are still aspects of our industry that disturbs me. Especially the way industry “professionals” work in Cape Town.

I always hear about how the grass is greener in Jozi but I don’t live there so I wouldn’t know and I’m not going to comment about the industry up north. I can, however, comment about what’s happening here.

I think the biggest problem is the lack of knowledge when it comes to how we can earn an income in the music industry. I’m not saying I know it all but I’ve come to learn some things that might be helpful.

Let’s take a look at a typical example of how things work here in our beloved Mother City. This might not apply to everyone but it certainly is the famous tale we hear often.

An artist would like to work on a song. He finds a producer and needs a “beat” or instrumental composition. Most likely because this artist has befriended the “producer” or beatmaker, they don’t normally pay for it. The artist most likely does not have money so cannot afford to pay for the “beat”. The producer is probably up and coming so won’t ask for money because why would the artist pay for something by someone who doesn’t have a track record? Right? Never mind the fact that the composer spent time making that instrumental.

Then another “friend” of that particular artist probably has a studio and then they record the song. The “friend” also mixes and masters that song for free because we live in a world where we are too scared to charge our so-called friends even though, we’re granting our time and expertise.

Then let’s say the song is a success. It launches the career of the artist. From there they’ll get radio airplay, exposure, live gigs – for which they’ll get paid. The 2 “friends” who were involved in making that song a success still never got paid. The beatmaker might get royalties from radio airplay IF the SAMRO (South African Music Rights Organisation) forms were filled in correctly and submitted (if at all).

Bottom line is the 2 other parties involved will never truly be compensated for the time they put in. Let’s say the song was a complete flop? Well again the time of the beatmaker and studio engineer was wasted but the artist will feel ok because they didn’t waste money. Although your pocket is happy with you, that isn’t exactly ethical.

But this seems to be the norm when it comes to most Capetonian artists. And this should change.

If you cannot pay for the services you need, either don’t ask for it or come to some kind of agreement in which you can offer something in return. Perhaps you as the artist have access to some other kind of resource that the service provider needs.

OR , and this is best case scenario, you find out what the services will cost, save up the money and then pay them. This way you can also have more control over your project. Because you’ll notice that once someone has to do something for free, they might not feel the need to put in as much effort and might feel offended if you as the artist still want to dictate every aspect of the process.

I’ve watched numerous interviews of established overseas artists and even they will speak of having to save up money for studio time. 

Kendrick Lamar speaks of this. 

Noah “40” Shebib who is not just Drake’s producer but personal friend spoke of charging Drake if he is in need of his services.

And this reminds me of a philosophy that my dad taught me. He said that he could give me my first car but if I had to buy it myself with money that I’ve earned then I would appreciate it more and take better care of it.

If you pay for your production and studio time then you’ll cherish the time more and get work done as opposed to just messing around. Once the product is done, you’ll also do a lot more to ensure that product is a success so that you get the return on your investment.

This is the music business after all. In Cape Town, we have plenty of the MUSIC talent, but in most cases, we are sorely lacking in the BUSINESS department. We need to stop blurring the lines between friendship and colleagues. I'm not saying our colleagues can't also be our friends but let us at least treat our friends with the same respect we would give a business associate.

PART 2 coming soon…