adminBrenda Phiri Arts Correspondent
Swedish-based musician and Zimbabwe Music Festival Bira founder Luckson “Manluckers” Chikutu says Zimbabwe is a hub of talent and its musicians have the potential to live comfortably from their work if they are properly managed.Manluckers said lack of professionalism and poor administration, among other things, hampered development of artistes.
“It is a sad situation we have in our music industry that sees the majority of artistes struggling to make ends meet when they have vibrant careers. It is time for something to be done to address it and this is the starting point,” he said.
Manluckers, who is in the country in preparation for Zimfebi, said he would be conducting workshops with artistes and relevant stakeholders to educate them on how they may realise financial gain from their careers.
On the sidelines of the Zimfebi in August, Manluckers said he was hoping to engage stakeholders in the music industry as well as upcoming artistes in arts schools.
Issues to be tackled on include contracts, digitalisation, and promoter-artistes relationship.
“It is important that artistes are educated on the importance of contracts when they work so that they are not abused or discriminated when they carry out their work. Most artistes are exploited and work under poor conditions mostly because they ignorant of their rights,” he said.
The free workshops will also see the musician, who is a Music Business graduate from Sweden, teaching artistes to create websites.
“Digitalisation is important for artistes because it enables them to spread their music beyond our borders as well as promoting the country’s profile. They will however get lessons on how they may put their music and biographies online without exposing themselves to piracy,” he said.
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