On the left is Rashid Larney ,Thulani Mbatha, Nomsa Mazwai, Tebogo Sedumedi, Manaileng Maphike and Vusi Nhlapo these are the founding board members missing is Tshepo Ndzimande.
It is common for an industry to be shaken, disrupted or even innovated by change throughout the course and causes of time. Sadly, the music industry remains stagnant in executive business decisioning. This is despite the oscillation of trailblazing and par excellent sounds nutritioned by our iconoclasts for decades. Until today, it still remains a challenge to access and explore financial gains in this industry. To stretch this further, throughout our lifetime when attending funerals, and burying our creative loved ones, the clanging phrase, “our artists should not die poor or paupers is a staple lament and statement that washes down the burial recitation “ashes to ashes and dust to dust”. In agony and distraught emotions, hearing this phrase is as familiar as queuing up for scones and juice just after a burial. Plausibly, this statement could be as obsolete as the gold standard charter or even the bartering and exchange system.
Finding advertent solutions to this call is The Music Creators South Africa (MCSA), an organisation that seeks to bridge a sensible wedge by changing and reducing the impedimenta of lifetime and systemic ills of the industry. In collaboration with the South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC), MCSA will schedule Show Me the Money, a series of masterclasses across all nine provinces. Information will be relayed partly in the dominant languages of the provinces.
The key component is to broaden the sentient state of artists, notate and teach them how to safeguard and monetise their intellectual commodities. The drive will also equip musicians on how to build and strengthen business networks for a healthier net worth.
The one-day power packed Masterclass will amongst many important aspects will also address the impediment of contractual obligations and resolutions. By resolving this, they have created a template agreement that favours the artists. The workshop also seeks to empower the creatives with a hunger and thirst for how to maximise efficiencies when collecting their royalties and in depth understanding the possible revenue streams in this fickle industry. The inception of the Masterclasses will take place on 28 September 2023 in Gauteng Johannesburg at the SABC Auckland Park Studios. It will later head towards Ekhuruleni and the Sedibeng region, further detailed dates of other provinces will be available timely on the www.musiccreators.co.za website, alternatively enquiries can be made on 0027 73 146 0538 .
This is by far an organisation that seems to have a sagacious moral perception relating to the financial interests of musicians. At the apex of this, MCSA has presented an aptitude to develop the intelligence of our biggest exports to the world. The associations and its affiliates give a chance for us to voice, express, and tell our stories in our own way. As a result, this will create a plateau that will inform, teach, dissect, and interleave many inclined perspectives. Above all, it will build and proclaim the confidence that South Africa is the best amongst the rest when we relay and impart creativity.
