HOW ESSENTIAL IS PR IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?



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As a musician apart from entertaining people, your main objective is to sell as many albums as possible. But how will people buy your albums if they’ve never even heard of you?



There is no point in recording the greatest album of all time if no one even knows about you, you might as well have not even bothered recording. WHAT A WASTE!

Musicians are on the hunt for publicity and it’s nearly impossible and hard for the “not so famous” musicians to get attention from the media. Luckily for them, there are professionals known as Public Relations Practitioners or Publicists who know how to work with the media. Given the task on time, PRP’s and publicists can work wonders on a musician’s career within a blink of an eye. After all, these people are the binding rope between the musicians and the media. 

Whether famous or not, or no matter how bad of a singer you are, the fact that people know you is HIGH PRIORITY and these professionals will make sure that you get media exposure at all times.

Take Lira for instance, she was originally known as a kwaito artist, she then changed to soul music and she became huge in the industry. Her PRP made sure that she got all the media exposure she could get in order to make people aware of Lira's new image.

When she finally made it in the soul music genre, you heard her songs on every radio station, she was on TV doing interviews, if it wasn’t interviews she was performing or involved in anti-piracy campaigns or just simply attending social events that had absolutely nothing to do with music.

Social media has affected the music industry in a positive way, as it has made the publicists job much more easier. Everybody was talking about her on facebook, twitter you name it, she was the talk of the town and she still is,because her prp or publicist is awake. Her  publicists made sure that she was everywhere at all times building an image and acquainting herself with the public and the media.

Ask your mom if she knows who Lira is and I bet you she won’t hesitate to say "yes I do", all thanks to her  publicist who did an extraordinary job in getting people to eat, drink and sleep Lira.

MUSIC WITH MEANING

From the day you heard your very first lullaby sung to you as an infant, that was the day music provided the “soundtrack” of your life. You hear but you don’t listen to the soundtrack playing in the background of your favourite movie, not realising the power music has upon your life.

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Music flows through every single part of our lives, whether its religion, education or recreation, music is who we are. It is part of our victories and defeats, visions and missions. Music is part of our heritage, and what better way to justify my thoughts than the heart-warming unofficial anthem “SHOSHOLOZA”.

Though it might remain a mystery about the original author of the song, according to , “Shosholoza is a traditional miner’s song, originally sung by groups of men from the Ndebele ethnic group that traveled by steam train from their homes in Zimbabwe to work in South Africa and gold mines.” This is why the “sho” sound in Shosholoza is important because it pays tribute to the sound made by the steam trains.

The song is sung in different contexts in South Africa to show solidarity in sporting events and other national events to portray a message of support to the players, just like the unforgettable year of 1995 when a newly born nation had just shrugged of the shackles of apartheid hosted the Rugby world cup and took victory upon its competitors and made history. That monumental day turned Shosholoza the anthem of the Springbok team made up of white South Africans.


This song has been sung in so many different ways and flavours, which makes it quite interesting and appealling to the new generation, which shows that the music industry needs to continuously update themeselves and keep up with the latest trends in order to keep the old loyal fans of the song and still attract new fans who were born into democracy. This will not only teach the young and upcoming musicians the value of good music, but it will keep the song alive and kicking, good thing social sites like YouTube for instance does allow talented people to showcase their music, whether new or old as long as it will be out there.

Mandela and Pienaar, share a moment of victory

Who would’ve thought that  this song of heartache and sorrow would one day be a song of high magnitude influencing Hollywood director and Oscar winner, Clint Eastwood to use it as his main track in his 2009 film, Invictus, portraying Nelson Mandela’s role in the 1995 Rugby triumph.

In a country of diversity like Mzansi, where most of the time values, cultures and languages clash, Shosholoza has broken the barriers and united people of different backgrounds. 

This poses a question of curiosity about our generation, do we really understand the value of music or are we just ignorant because we didn’t live in the apartheid era long enough to feel the pain our ancestors felt? Is it possible to forget this song, unless its got flavour which you like, then you wont hesitate to listen to it?

lyrics and video of Shosholoza: Link

BLACK MUSIC, WHITE MUSIC-RAINBOW NATION

With South Africa's celebrated versatile musicians such as Johnny Clegg, Sibongile Khumalo and Mi Casa, just to name a few, it is very stereotyped to still assume that black people listen to " THIS" music and white people listen to "THAT" music and for that reason, South Africa is still a long walk away from the "Rainbow Nation". This artists have been in the public eye for quite some time and have lived the rainbow life they sing about.


 

Zulu boy,Johnny Clegg

Johnny Clegg has broken the unbreakable barriers with his blend of African zulu and Western pop rhythms which have crossed over on an international level. This legendary white man has won awards both locally and internationally and has captured the hearts of both black and white audiences who live in the rainbow nation he has called home for over 4 decades.



Sibongile Khumalo singing some of her sweet melodies



 With classical music known to be for the wealthy white snobs, SibongileKhumalo has been the one to change that perception. Khumalo is a vibrant soulful black jazz and classical musician that has enchanted a diverse audience with her graceful voice. She sings a variety of musical genres ranging from traditional South African sounds to European sounds, not forgetting the jazzy melodies and classical music she sings to the rest of the world with a taste of South African flavour.

New kid on the block, Micasa

The dynamic mixed racial trio Mi Casa “my house”, is the newest soulful house collective that has taken the music scene by storm with their debute album titled “These streets”. The group consists of two black men, Mo-T that plays the trumpet, club dj and producer Dr Duda and the super duper white vocalist and guitarist J’something who seems to be the main attraction because of his skin colour in a genre thtat is prone to be for blacks. Having one of Mi Casa’s songs being sung fluently in zulu by a white man that dances like a township man has certainly caught the attention of and white music lovers who were never fans of house music but seem to have grown a liking for it.

With legends like Johnny Clegg and Sibongile Khumalo, is there still a need for them to continue building a name for themselves or have they already left a mark on the hall of fame? Whereas Micasa is still fresh and needs to continue building a brand for themselves and delivering the goods to all races and continue the rainbow legacy?

we all need to make a living of some sort in order to survive



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Unemployed people in South Africa have resorted to piracy as a way of living, despite the fact that it is considered to be an illegal activity. Piracy has become such a norm in South Africa, so much so that consumers have forgotten what the inside of a music store looks like. Argument being, why should one spend R100 on an original album when you can get an exact copy on the street for R10 with a massive saving of R90 which you can use to put food on the table?  



Selling like "hot bread" on the streets.source

Local artists such as Rebecca Malope, Joyous Celebration, and Zahara just to name a few, are said to be the most pirated artists. According to (google), South African artists lose an estimated R500 million each year due to piracy. This has made recording for these artists very unpleasant because they do not reap the benefits of their own fruits.

The Department of Trade and Industry has taken a stand along with artists in an effort to fight piracy. The campaign aims to create public awareness on how buying pirated Compact Discs (cd) affects the economy and how it has led the artists well into poverty. To combat the situation, artists have taken to the streets of Johannesburg led by poet and chairperson of the Anti-piracy campaign titled “Shoot the Pirate”, Mzwakhe Mbuli, to confront the street vendors and confiscate the fake CDs. Mzwakhe said that “enough is enough and that they will fight violence with violence” to stop piracy.

Street vendors need to understand that this action is not to take food away from them, but to save the country`s economy which in the long run will be beneficial to them. It will assist in the creation of jobs and decrease the rate of retrenchments.

Could this be the end of our music industry or is it simply a call for government to create more jobs?