We must take music as a business

Recently, musician Kim of Diamonds made headlines on the Internet when pictures of her surfaced while at Mavin Records of Nigeria. It later emerged that the local musician was part of a project called MBA for Africa and YouTube Incubator Programme. This is a programme tailor-made for African artists to learn the business side of music. Our arts editor EDITH GONDWE caught up with Kim of Diamonds to learn more about her experience and how she plans to put her newly acquired knowledge to use. Excerpts:

Q

: So, first we want to understand how you found yourself part of the programme?

A

: I was just looking for a music business course on Google one day and I could not find anything really. I was wondering what I could do in terms of linking my music to the business side of things so I typed something like that and this particular programme just came up and I clicked and checked out the modules and I was blown away.

Firstly, because it was so clear in the areas that it wanted to teach or talk about. It was the only programme out there for music business, especially for African artists that actually give you an understanding of how the music industry works and what we need to do to push forward to create a better industry and everyone involved. And then I got sponsored to study it. I had some payment issues at some point and I couldn’t make the payment, but then I found the sponsor and because of having a sponsor I made sure I was active and I was in the top 10. That helped me to go and visit Nigeria, Mavin Records.

Q: What does the programme offer to an artist?

A

: The programme offers knowledge and experience. It sort of simulates the real life situation where you are managing an artist and you [become] part of the music business. You are made to imitate being part of a music group managing an artist and you work on aspects such as marketing, promotion recording, live recording. You get to work with other members from different parts of the world in Africa. So, you are put together to help as artists record their music and help them link with the right people, the photo shoots and other aspects. It teaches you the hands-on of the music business. T is a machine that shows what every artist needs to be successful. We also went to Mavins Records in Nigeria. At Mavins Records, we got to see that it is an actual business. They have offices, artists have teams working for them in the marketing department, financial department, sales and what have you. There are several departments working for these artists and all artists have to do is wake up and go into the studio, record their music, shot music videos create content and do whatever else they want because they have a whole team. That is what gives the artists knowledge..

Q

: What specifically impressed you during your visit to Nigeria?

A

: It was insane. There is so much energy in Lagos, especially at businesses like Mavin Records. The working culture there, the young people in positions of creativity or executing stuff, filming, videography is just impressive. There are offices dedicated to the designers, videographers, so many studios under one roof. And the offices are designed beautifully with the Nigerian culture embedded in the designs. You can tell from the designs that they are proud of their culture. So, the experience was for us as Malawians to start thinking of having more venues that are specific for music business where people know that when I go to this place I will access different studios, photo studios and others. That was very inspiring to see. And we need to have more spaces that reflect our culture and avoid boring buildings or architecture. We need to create spaces where pictures look great with the background and stuff. That becomes part of the experience and people get attracted to the music product from these artists.

Q

: What lessons have you brought with you from the programme?

A

: The lessons that I got from the programme are that we have to work together and get our act together. There is so much room for everybody, especially that we are 19 million people in Malawi. With the knowledge that I now have, I appreciate that in the music industry, there are so many other industries such as recording industry, videography, photography, interactive industry and so forth. So, any of the artists can decide which business they can start. But we need study first to know how to properly run the business, because much as it is a music thing, it is purely business which must be run properly. The MBA programme is a great tool and I got to meet so many amazing creatives and artists. And it is a great platform on your thoughts. My lesson is that we can make a lot of money from music as artists and even as ordinary people by investing in the industry. We have so many examples of how much money other artists in developed countries have made from the music business. It has also created job opportunities.

Q

: Now that you have learnt a few things from the programme, how do you plan to use the knowledge to further improve your career?

A

: I am still digesting the knowledge. I am not only improving my music and executing it, but also going to teach others how they can also build their own careers. You know everybody is different and I love that there is so much diversity in Malawi and we need to be working together. We also need people in the corporate world to use our music in their adverts as well. That is what we need as artists and putting Malawi on the map. We need to have more people who understand the music business side of things.