This is responose to a query by one anonymous, dare we say, timid contributor who who wondered why there was no jobs in th emusic industry and was answered by a lot of other idiots who talked a lot of horse dung, probably the only healthy response was the irreverent "music is a vocation, not a job; you're probably right working as a communication officer" or whatever. It is ignorance that leads people to post such queries on this site.
Presently one anonymous posted a query on the lack of jobs within the music the industry. Another responded that the music industry has shrinked to a fraction to what it used to be 15 years ago.
The latter statement is a fallacy and display a careless disregard to facts; the former statement is a query pregnant with assumptions out of ignorance. Ignorance is a let down on black hence I've been arguing htat black people, deprived of sound education for the considerable parts of the 20th century, cannot afford to have of pure music radio stations as Y FM, Kaya FM and Metro FM wants to do.
Black people need information and there are messes of data suitable for any radio station the thing is to find it and package it accordingly. That Kaya FM and Y FM are not suiccessful above SABC ALS stations shows how much htere is a hunger for information within the black people and yet they are not served satisfactorily. Even SABC ALS are not doing enough of what they should be doing to provide information, but at least there is some suitable for the whole family, from education matters to health matters to politics, the whole gamut.
Queries as posted by anonymous, with his timidity to even put his full names suggesting someone fearful to expose his ignorance and concomitant inferioriy complex about such lack of information, would not be posted if radio stations such as music station were to begin to provide relevant information to their listeners. But that has budgetary implications as someone who needs to gather such information must be paid to do it.
Let me tell you there are jobs in the music industry. But you must remember that there are four major multinational companies in the country and a host of affiliate companies mostly owned by black musicians turned entrepreneurs.
The multinational companies do have staff compliments and hire now and then. The affiliate companies, wrongly known as independents can run on a staff of not more than 5 people. multinationals are strctly corporate that have not been outside the apartheid policies of this country when it regards employment: blacks make the product, whites make the living. And do not even care what that music sounds like - they go buy a CD from white US or British artists instead with that money.
Then there is employment in outdoor music activities where people are known as roadies, after the English slang. There are many big organisations here such as GEAR House, SARA, etc., etc. who hire out people to do road management of artists and technical supply.
There are some people who run schools dedicated to teaching careers within the music industry: one such school is run by musician turned lecturer Sy Ntuli in Sunnyside, Parktown, and regularly places people within the music industry; another was run by NISA Global Entertainment until funding and internal conflict within MAPPP Seta put paid to it; there is the venerable institution Funda Centre and Johny Mekoa runs a music education in the East Rand sponsored by Standard Bank that performs every year at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival and Joy of Jazz. Many people, including the country's top musicians and DJs have learnt business skills, management skills, event management skills, negotiationos skills and media skills from these institutions and are now working within hte music industry.
Right now the rage of the day within the music industry is being an artist manager and people are opening up their artist/s manamengt companies just about everywhere because they have seen that's where the money is as well. You cvan be a prodcuer, if you want, but this means, just like evrything elsem, you have to dedicate resources, which are quite expensive, in order to learn the art of producing.
There is a shortage of black music engineers - there is only one qualified music engineer in the country and that is Don Laka and the rest do it by ear and not very good. this is the reason, too much of our music sounds terrible, you have a note that shouldn't be there, or a sound that shouldn't be there owing to a lack to a good education for a good ear and the right equipment to do that. I persoannly have a good ear and not the technical know-how of how remove sounds and clear them and put them in their correct place - this hasd been an education of over 25 years of listening to music and to muscians who taught me th eintricacies of engineering, not its the art. I know a bad sound when I hear one and vice versa. I also know a technically bad recording when I hear one. Currently, there is major female artist who has released what must rank as one of the worst recorded albums ever in the history of this country: the voices comes from left speakers instead of centre speakers and the music recording is amateurish. But black people are to buy it and as radio and TCV are playing, something I think it's criminal considering the badness of the records. There is no way that SABC radio can't pick up the technical errors of this recording; SABC has one of the most advanced sound systems in the world - nothing in Africa compares to it. There is one famous musician who I've always wondered how he became a musician when he is so obviously tone deaf - he knows no rythym guitar no lead or synthesised sounds. So you can train as a music engineer, provided, of course, that your ear is good. And from young age it still can be done even if your ear is not naturally disposed.
But you must bear in mind that the music industry is small. As of last year the music industry in this country had barely made a billion rand as a whole - I mean you sell 3000 3 Series BMWs you easily make over R5bln, and that's just a mere portion of hte motor industry. But you sell 50 000 units of a CD you hardly make R10mln!
However, having said that, to corect the ill-conceived and silly fallacy of implying that the music industry was better 125 years ago is to inform this contributor that SA music industry was among the world's music industries alone looking the better last year as it grew 22% when all showed negative growth: this growth yielded an industry approximating a billion rand for the fist time in th ehistory of SA as it reached R990mln. And these were driven by sales of local music as for the first time in the history of the country local music surpassed sales of international music by 12%. So clearly it is nonsense to say that the music industry is a fraction of what it used to be 15 years ago.
The trouble is that many university graduates studied music to be artists and could not serve in other positions within the music industry until they gather enough experience to serve other positions. As anonymous indicate that he is now a communications offcier, it is a job that he can now get within the music industry - but the pay is not competitive! there was no way that he could have obtained htat job within a music company when he didn't have the requisite experience; maybe other industries are lenient in hiring if he was hired as a publicist despite that he's qualification were for music! As we say in the media, he must be investigated!
It follows that if you studied to be a musician or composer than you must concentrate on that: hope you get signed or noticed enough to to be a session musician depending on yuor talent and the music instrument you play. It's economics, pure and simple: you can't play the mbira and expect to be booked oftener when other artists want a keyboardists or guitarists. I know Tshepo Mngoma's, the violinist, is in demand as is Selaelo Selota who comes out of a varsity as well as Judith Sephuma, Sibongile Khumalo, et al.
For example, the standard rate for a session musician is R800 per session. But some session command a great deal htan up to R1200 per session; and soime musician prefer to pay theoir session musicians well at the highest rates. Plus there are live TV appearances in such shows as Afro Cafe where musicians are paid R4000 per play and lead group members are paid R6000. This does not factor in rehearsals fees. But this depends on the simple economic laws of supply and demand.
That's was an examplar out of pop music. In Western music you can apply for position within the coutry's orchestras: these operates on a budget of over R5mln per year. This led to the closure of Johannesburg Orchestra which had been funded by municpality until not it's opened as aprivate venture of rich business people. There are, however, the Cape Town's and KZN orchestras where you can apply for jobs. I know people who are working who started out as musicians such as Linda Bukhosini, Victor Vilakazi, et al.
The musicians you know who aren't getting any work are probably not looking around enough at the right places or are just plain not good enough as you think them are. With the problems attendant to a music lifestyle there is practically a need every day for a musician in the music industry. Just hang out in the right palces and soon enough you'll bed playing gigs around the country or having jet-set lifestyle travelling to various places abroad.
