Sheer Music boss on how to survive digitisation – part 2

SA vs Africa

Just like Nigeria, South Africa has a vibrant music industry whose artists are making major waves all over Africa. The success of the South African music industry can also be attributed to state-of-the-art recording facilities that lure foreign artists to record in cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Highlighting his experience with the African music industry as a whole, Alexander said South Africa was more developed than other countries on the continent.

“This is not to disrespect them but to say that South Africa houses all the international record labels and publishers and has a very strong copyright system,” he said. “This is not only in law but also in practice. The physical industry that was successful in South Africa did not prove so for the rest of the continent. For example, the system of distributing music has been dominated by pirates and to this day continues to be so.”

Alexander also touched on copyright issues faced by most African artists. “The challenges in the African countries I have visited are that although they might be good copyright legislation in place, the practice around the collection and administration of royalties has not been very good.

“Collective societies do not collect much money, meaning that they don’t enjoy the same advertising revenue model that exists in South Africa and other developed markets. So if they get any fees from broadcasters, they are flat fees or low rates.”

Alexander said most African composers were not benefitting from collective management organisations (CMOs) in their countries. “The income they receive is not very high and with administrative costs being a high percentage of that revenue, the amount left for distribution to writers is very low. So in many cases it does not pay them to get data and distribute according to the data they may receive.”

Responding to what his organisation has done to educate artists on copyright, Alexander said: “A large part of our work over the last seven years has been explaining to composers the importance of retaining their copyright and how important it is to help their CMO to become a benchmark of good practice in terms of collection and distribution.

“Get involved and change things. In certain territories there seems to be a resonance of that message in the composing and publishing communities. And we have seen an increase in collection and distribution in the Anglophone countries.”

A ray of hope for the African music industry

Notwithstanding their huge presence in music catalogues around the globe, most African artists have not been able to create significant markets in their countries. But this is beginning to change with digital technology giving artists the opportunity to reach out to mass audiences in Africa and beyond. Most African record labels are working hard to establish multifaceted services while investing in artists and their repertoires. But technology is also breaking cultural barriers and connecting artist from different parts of the world. Alexander says there is growing interest in African sound from abroad.

“If you listen to international music trends, popular artists are becoming much more aware of the interesting sounds that we have in Africa,” he said. “Artists such as Drake and Ed Sheeran incorporating and adapting African sounds into their music helps to establish a narrative that there is an interest in our music, not only South African but Kenyan and Nigerian too. For writers open to the idea of collaboration, there is an opportunity for them to grow their audiences.”

Advice to artists and music entrepreneurs

Alexander encourages musicians to take advantage of the Internet to grow their brands and the African music scene.

“Africa has the youngest population in the world and with the penetration of the Internet via mobile devices we have an opportunity to create something that they will be able to share with each other, be proud of and say that this represents us as a people. And so we are excited to be part of that.”

Most musicians are not always prepared to face the challenges of the music industry and many of them end up quitting to find other ways of earning a living.

But Alexander says passionate individuals need to pay their dues before they can be successful.

“In my opinion longevity leads to success. So the trick is to hang in there. I lead my business with four principles: know yourself, keep moving, get better and never give up. These are fundamental approaches to business and to life that informs my every action and every decision I make."