MAM ISSUE #2

MEGA ARTIST
Issue no: 02
I'll be lying if I say there was some form of
strategy that was pulled out of the hat.
People demanded it which means I had a
ready market. All I had to do was to drop it
and announce on social media that it's
available. Mind you it's now 3 months, over 3
000 copies sold, festive season is
approaching and I haven't yet started with
radio promotions for the album. There are
still print and official launches to be done.
Over 3 000 copies got sold through online
campaigns, imagine how many more would
be sold by end of the year. I'm thankful for the
support, more so since the album is selfdistributed.
The same way Somalians
brothers started by selling curtains knocking
door to door, to now owning every shop in
villages, kasi and towns. I also aim to take
over the music industry.
Why did you opt for that option?
People demanded that I package my music
and sell it to them. It was either I record my
music, package it and sell to my neighbour
for R70 or I could record my music, go to
JHB, sign it to some company to package it
for me, after packaging that company comes
and sells it to my neighbour for R70 and give
me R10. So this was the best option for that
any artist should consider taking. I felt
assigning a company will delay me and my
people. The last option was that I could
continue releasing singles and when people
demand the album I could tell them “Wait,
I'm still waiting for a company that believes
I'm good, sign me and when that happens
you'll get the album from them. But in the
meantime continue waiting”. I just did not
want to put myself in that situation.
Why not get a record deal to handle
everything?
I am only searching for a distributor because
it's time to expand and touch other areas
where it might take longer to reach
independently. I'm still very happy and
comfortable under my company, Verbal
Silence Entertainment. I'm currently working
on getting strategic partnerships that would
understand the vision and together drive it
forward.
Challenges of an independent artist
We are surviving and doing big things as
independent artists. In some instances
better than artists who are signed with
majors. There's no unique challenge that
Independents are faced with. Maybe issues
of distribution but besides that independent
artist get the publicity, we have social media,
we finance our projects, we own our
intellectual property, we get bookings, we
organize our own gigs. Artists should
remember that the objective is to make good
music, make sure the music reaches the
consumer then profit from it. If you can run
that channel yourself, do it. If you need
assistance, get assistance.
What is lacking in Limpopo music
industry?
The artists in Limpopo are good, very good.
The quality of the music still needs to be
worked on, there's a lot to work on as far as
engineering the music is concerned.
How do we fix these problems or improve
on what we have?
www.megaartists.co.za NOV-DEC 2014 Page 7