Doom and gloom in music industry

Fred Zindi Music
With the closure of several music venues in Harare such as Jazz 105, last year, Book Café and Misty’s in 2015, up-and-coming musicians are struggling to find somewhere to stage concerts and subsequently to make a living. The infiltration by newcomers in the Zim-dancehall genre have made life even more difficult for the traditionally established sungura musicians such as Alick Macheso and the Chimbetus who now compete for the same venues.

In this harsh economic climate, the music industry now depends on disposable income from those who are seeking entertainment after they have paid their children’s school fees and have taken care of all other domestic bills. With the high unemployment rate this country faces, the music industry is definitely affected.

It has become even more difficult for bands to stay together as individual members have lost faith in sticking to one band which probably gets one gig in a month. Consequently, some of the “most non-famous full-time musicians” have decided to eke out a living through hassling or through one of the following ways:

Playing in multiple bands so that they gig as much as five times a week. (One example is Tafadzwa Marova, a talented bassist who plays for Blaqberry Jazz Band, Winky D’s Vigilance Band, Buhle Jazz, Zanele Manhenga, Umoja, etc), Playing at weddings and other gigs that come with a guaranteed $1000 – $3000 per gig. (The Rusike Brothers and Jazz Invitation are known for this);

Teaching music to as many as 20-40 kids a week. (Hope Masike is currently doing that at a workshop at St Peter’s Kubatana in Highfield); Becoming church music directors.(Isaac Chirwa is currently working at Prophet Walter Magaya’s PHD Ministries in this capacity); or Becoming the solo piano player at a bar or hotel reception.

While there are certainly other ways musicians make money such as composing, arranging, copying, licensing, doing collaborations with other more famous musicians, selling CD’s on the streets, etc, the income from these ventures is very minimal. I know of one artiste who earned only $42,20 in royalties from ZIMURA for his compositions after a whole year.

The problem with all of the above is that the musicians who do it tend not to get a lot of respect, either from music reviewers or from other musicians. Being a wedding musician tends not to be something musicians proudly announce. It is not considered very prestigious. The non-famous musicians I know who are making the most money are viewed rather condescendingly by local music critics and by up-and-coming musicians who think that kind of thing is akin to selling their music soul to make a buck.

The advantage of having a [non-musical] day job that pays the bills is that you can do the music you love without regard to whether it pays the bills. That can be very creative. There are many good musicians who support themselves through non-musical day jobs. Although their passion is in music, they do this in order to survive.

In these economic hard times, musicians have to start thinking out of the box and come up with solutions that will help them keep the wolf from the door. One musician came to me the other day asking me to help him find a job as he had not worked as a musician for nearly three months now. “I give up. My band manager is doing all to find us gigs”, he said.

However, not everything is doom and gloom in this industry. Some artistes are in big demand and if one needs their services for certain functions, they have to book them at least six months in advance. But these are only a few. Musicians such as Dr Oliver Mtukudzi, Jah Prayzah, Suluman Chimbetu and a handful of Zimdancehall artistes have developed a thriving career in the music business, while most others have a difficult time just getting by (due to not being able to support themselves financially).

I found that musicians have no trouble comprehending the need to reduce their music industry risks in traditional, self-evident ways. This lack of awareness makes it much more difficult (if not impossible) to reach lasting success in one’s career as a professional musician. To end up among the small number of musicians with a thriving music career, one must understand how to reduce the negative effects that are present on the other side of one’s strong areas as a professional in the music business.

In the process of working towards a music career, musicians have no doubt spent a lot of time to acquire skills sets with the intention of using them in their musical projects. These can be described as the musician’s music industry assets. However, like most people and musicians, they are likely to have developed these assets without a strategic understanding of how each element will lead them to their ultimate long term goal. This makes it even more likely that the musical skills and the music business experience they acquired all contain contrasting weaknesses that can in many cases overpower the musician’s positive sides if they let them go unnoticed.

To accelerate the advancement of one’s career as a professional musician, there is need to learn to get the most from one’s positive attributes while minimising the negative/opposing weaknesses that they create in the musician’s career strategy. All musicians with a thriving career do/have done this at one point or another, while those who fail to become successful continue to wonder why some musicians can make it in the business and they can’t.

The good news is that it is possible for anyone to get on the right track with their approach. For now, I must say, it is a hard road to travel.

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