Welcome to the business tips section of our website. Ok, some of you might think this is the boring stuff, that’s there’s too much to read or if you’re an artist that you just wana focus on your art. But the hard reality is that in this game you simply can’t afford to not have your business side locked down. The more you have an understanding of how it works the better equipped you will be to manoeuvre and navigate your way to being a successful artist or industry cat.

Maybe you’re an artist who has been working on your skillz for some time now and want to learn some business skillz or maybe you want to become a manger, promoter, booking agent or start your own label and you need some guidance.

We’re also always adding new information to the site so keep checking back fro updates.

Basic rules:

• Don’t be late ! – this is one of the biggest problems in the industry in Africa today. If you want to be successful be on time, if your not there will be hundreds of other hungry artists waiting in the wings to take the gap.
• Be reliable. If you say your going to do something do it !
• Think long term – being an artist is a lifetime journey. Try to build as many positive relationships as possible that might help you in the future.
• Work hard – this goes without saying but remember things take time. Most cats who make it have been working hard for many years.
• Develop other skills – there is nothing wrong with working in a job and being an artist at the same time. Having a job will make you the money you need to make a demo and will take the pressure of your art.
• Have fun – this is an exciting industry

Who does what:

We’ve compiled a basic list of industry personnel with a description of what they do.

Artist Manager

looks after the artists business affairs, responsible for developing the artists career. A manger also performs a buffer zone between the Artist and the rest of the industry.

Booking Agent

Books gigs and does the deal.

Promoter

Puts on events

Publisher

See section on publishing

Distributor

Distributes product into shops or to online site.

Aggregator

Distributes your music to online download stores

Manufacture

Makes your cd’s / dvd’s / cassettes.

A&R

works for a record label and looks for new talent

Producer

Makes music but is also responsible for getting the best performance out of an artist and helping develop style and direction.

Programmer

makes music on computers

Sound Engineer:

• Studio Engineer – records artists in the studio
• Live engineer – mixes the sound for a live show

Lighting engineer

does the lighting for live shows

Roady

junior crew who travels on tour with an artists and helps with what ever is needed.

Tour manger:

Responsible for managing the artist tour

Vocal Coach

Helps an artist develop their voice

Ethnomusicologist

Yes this is a real job :-) In simple terms it’s a person with an incredible understanding of music theory. If there is a dispute about a piece of sampled music for example one of these guys will be called in to analyse the situation If you want to learn more en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnomusicology

Record deals

Record Companies

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_company

Publishing

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_publisher_%28popular_music%29

Digital

Playing live

Royalties

Syncing

Making a music video

Recording

Producing

Music Theory

Promotion