Colani SooPurb Nkosi - Acing the South African Music Industry

Acing the South African Music Industry

BY

Colani SooPurB Nkosi

Acing the South African Music Industry

2021 Colani SooPurB Nkosi and Mbokodo Publishers

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without written permission from the Publisher, except per the provisions of the Copyright Act, 98 of 1978.

Disclaimer

The Publishers and Editors cannot be held responsible for errors or any consequences arising from the use of information contained in this book; the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Mbokodo Publishers, its affiliates, or its employees, neither does the publication of this book constitute any endorsement by the Publishers and Editors of the views expressed herein.

Publishers Competency

Licensed Educator (SACE), Bachelor of Administration in Public Management (University of Pretoria), Licentiate in Ministerial Theology (PBC), Certified Editor (College SA), English for Language Practitioners (University of Pretoria), Publishing studies (University of Pretoria). Commissioner of Oaths and Marriage Officer (SA). In progress: Bachelor of Laws (UNISA).

ACING THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC INDUSTRY ISBN-13: 978-1-990919-82-4 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-990919-83-1 (pdf ) ISBN-13: 978-1-990919-84-8 (ebook)

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Typeset in 10/11 Garamond by Mbokodo Publishers Printed by Mbokodo Publishers 1 2 3 4 5 1 2

Every effort has been made to obtain copyright permission for the material used in this book. Please contact the Author with any queries in this regard.

Chapter 1: Music production

Chapter 2: Music registration

Chapter 3: Music publishing

Chapter 4: Music distribution

Chapter 5: PR (Publicity/Public Relations)

Chapter 6: How I managed to be featured on platforms

Chapter 7: How to easily get other creatives to work with you

Chapter 8: Promoting your music and brand on social media

Chapter 9: Independence vs being signed

Chapter 10: Desire, vision, and focus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I m Colani Nkosi (born 16 April 1994) known in the music business as SooPurB. Im a rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer hailing from Mpumalanga, Nhlazatshe. I spent almost all my life in this neighbourhood. I got my pre-school, primary, and high school education in Nhlazatshe public schools. My parents couldnt afford private institutions. My mom has been a farm and domestic worker her whole life and my dad worked in a butchery and he passed away a few years after he started working at a mine. After passing matric in 2012 with a bachelors endorsement, the following year, 2013 I went to study my three-year communication studies degree at the University of Limpopo and completed it on record time, 2015.

Ive been in school since I was young, I only got to be home and chill in 2016 though I was stressed by job hunting. Since December 2015 I started sending out CVs applying for jobs and internships. Welcome to South Africa where only a few professions offer permanent employment to people coming straight out of tertiary, like the education sector, where no experience is required. In other professions, they require 3 years or more of experience and worse internships are only one-year contracts and a person cant do more than one. its a mess.

Ive been in and out of offices doing internship interviews mostly in Gauteng and none of those came to fruition. In December 2016, I got a call inviting me to an interview in my home city Mbombela. It was an internship (Radio Content Production) interview at SABC, Ligwalagwala FM and I succeeded.

Because Nhlazatshe is a bit far from the SABC Mbombela offices/studios, I had to relocate to a township that is closer to the workplace. I rented a room in Barberton, a place thats 40km away from Mbombela and I relied on Buscor buses which are offering affordable transportation to the city and back daily.

Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm, I was at SABC doing content production, scriptwriting, translating, audio recording and editing, stakeholder liaising, website and social media content creation and management. In February I was familiar with almost all the duties and tools used so I began enjoying my experiential work. And to tell you the truth, in any radio station, be it local, commercial or national, the busiest and fastest of all shows, is the breakfast show.

Being part of the breakfast show team was a blessing and a half for several reasons. I learned to work under pressure because of the shows fast- paced setup. My mentor who also happened to be the producer of the show, Mr Sehlabela aka BeKay has been on the radio for years producing and presenting and during my internship, he was acting as the stations programmes manager so he got a lot of experience and I gained a lot from him. He showed me how to do things once and let me do the work on my own. He just let me learn by doing, making mistakes, and most importantly learn from them.

I was also warmly welcomed by the hosts of the show, Dj Madumane and Mpumi Mbethe (who later left to join Rise FM). And the sports and news presenters were cool except one old lady, a veteran newsreader, who always thought Im the one who tempered with the news soundbites desktop if it wasnt functional or the chair got misplaced. Nonetheless, I was working well with most people from various departments in the building.

The minute I started dealing and liaising with artists and their managers, both well-known and upcoming, I learned the DOs and DONTs of requesting and securing radio interviews. I also got to know why other artists succeed in getting interviews and why others fail. I got to learn how PR specialists send music to radio stations. I also got to see how artist management and public relations practitioners of big artists operate, how they write their emails, and what they specifically attach. I was there to learn and gain experience in radio programming but as an aspiring artist, I was subtly studying the music business in the process.

Whenever artists requested interviews, I was the one scheduling and confirming for the breakfast show and my mentor was supervising. When we hosted an artist, my duty was to welcome them, making sure their song is scheduled by the music compiler and making sure that everyone is on the same page. I was also lucky that Mpumi Mbethe (having worked on national TV, both behind the scenes and on-screen) was co-hosting the show and