Music: Business without managers

Malawian artists are a one-stop-shop: they solely handle their bookings, publicity and even plan their own events.

In an ideal world, all these hustles would have been heaped on the artists’ managers. Malawian musicians have cried foul over the indifferent attitude of the corporate world towards the sector and moaned about how hard it is to make music a business in Malawi.

But is their handling of the art good enough to spark an interest from stakeholders?

In separate interviews, music manager Kimpho Loka and long time music promoter Jai Banda say Malawian musicians lack professionalism in the way they handle the art, noting that having no manager is a sign of unprofessionalism.

Said Banda: “A musician does not have to negotiate some deals all by himself. By doing that, they do not look serious and lose concentration of their art.”

And Loka stated: “Negotiating deals, say with the corporate managers, needs someone with negotiation skills and it doesn’t look professional that an artist should directly be involved. Only in Malawi does that happen.”

The two agree that, besides being professional, having a manager allows an artist to concentrate on their art.

“Management of an artist is a hectic task and it does an artist no good to do that alone, they end up managing bookings and other elements and lose out on their rehearsals ending up with sloppy performances,” said Loka.

On his part, Banda noted that when artists have managers, they concentrate on song-writing, recording and rehearsing and that brings quality to their music because they put in more effort.

Maskal, one of the few local musicians with a manager, concurs with Loka and Banda, saying that as people with talent they do not have to handle issues to do with management as that is at times stressful.

“What I do now is write songs, record, rehearse and perform at shows. I don’t have to worry about bookings show adverts, logistics as they are taken care of by managers,” said Maskal.

Maskal says musicians lack the ability to trust someone with their career.

“Sometimes artists do not trust anyone that they do not want their business to be handled by anyone,” said the ZilindiIwe hit-maker.

Banda and Loka said most musicians are not ready to pay an extra cost to their art.

“Most artists cannot afford to pay a manager while others just want to take out what they have and they resort to managing themselves,” said Banda.

He concurs with Maskal that artists are always suspicious that someone is ripping them off even with a proper contractual agreement.

“Sometimes it is because artists do not want to adjust their brand. When a manager comes and tells them to behave in a certain way, they feel that is threatening their freedom and independence,” he said.

Is it worth the hustle for an artist to hire a manager?

All of the interviewees agree that having a manager is more rewarding than not having one.

“When one gets a good manager, he strikes great deals. And can make far than when working alone,” said Loka.