Is the Local music industry a sink or swim market

‘Breaking international’ is at the forefront of local musicians’ minds but in order to navigate the ocean you must first conquer the pond. Many musicians struggle to survive the South African music industry. With so many fish in the sea, it helps to understand just how deep the local water is. Music exchange, which took place at the Victoria Junction Hotel in Green Point Cape Town on from 22-24 March 2010, is an initiative developed to educate artists and producers about how the South African music industry functions, and how it can benefit them. One of the panellists at the conference, Sean Wienand of Headline Artist’s Management and former owner of Mercury (one of Cape Town’s popular live venues), believes that “practice makes perfect”.

According to Sean, the main challenge facing local musicians is money. Sean explains that any product requires capital investment in order to promote and gain retail traction. Bearing in mind that investment from record companies is on a steady decline largely due to the lack of investment capital available. This stems from a global drop in album sales, says Charles Goldstack (CEO Touchtunes Interactive, former CEO of Bertelsmann Music Group USA) who spoke earlier at the conference. Sean offers a solution to local musicians by suggesting that they develop creative marketing models and spend funds on carving out a space for themselves in the “over-populated, under-supported and under-resourced” market we operate in.

Yoel Kenan, former senior vice president of international marketing at Sony BMG, was among the speakers at Music Exchange commenting on ‘how to break international.’ Although it’s true that 95% of music is illegally downloaded, to the detriment of musicians, Yoel assures that in light of web 2.0 advances there has been an overall change in consumer behaviour and that music is more consumed today than ever before. With the new broadband capabilities available the digital revolution plays a pivotal role in the modern musician’s means of communicating a product to a target audience. New artists, as a result, have a better chance of getting recognition than ever before. Charles adds that this is where the record and publishing companies can assist artists in capitalising on these opportunities for commercial success.

Nick Motsatse, CEO of The South African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), also spoke at the conference. Nick commented on how SAMRO are aiding musicians by helping them protect their rights and claim their royalties for their work regardless of the vast online mediums used. Nick spoke on the implementation of the “Needle Time Right” for performer’s protection right. This new law will protect the rights of musicians when their music is played live. The Needle Time Right ensures that the performer, composer and publisher will all receive their respective royalty payments if the song is registered with SAMRO.

Other organisations working towards strengthening the local industry include The Cape Music Industry Commission (Cape MIC) who are an NGO uniquely placed to facilitate and support music and economic growth in the Western Cape. They achieve this through the number of initiatives put into operation on a regular basis. A recent being a workshop geared towards teaching individuals how to produce a live music event, “They are doing some fantastic work in the education field,” says Sean, “Commercial ventures such as Your LMG magazine that are all striving to elevate the cause we all believe in. In addition, most venue owners, retailers, labels and peripheral music industry operatives are all contributing something to the cause.”

When I asked Sean about his predictions for the future of the Industry, he said that it was a big question, and one that he would probably have to charge me for to answer. He did say that the industry is surprisingly healthy and that the future looked bright, for musicians and business men alike.

Being among one of the many fish myself, I too find it hard to fight the strong back-current on my journey up the stream of music success. In the words of Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse (former SAMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner) “The road ahead is long, but what you have as a talent belongs to you. Be yourself, invest in yourself, and your talent will serve you.”

Tim Lester

Alice in Underland

Title: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Director: Tim Burton

Writer: Linda Woolverton (screenplay); Lewis Carrol (books)

Cast: Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter); Mia Wasikowska (Alice); Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen); Anne Hathaway (White Queen); additional voices provided by Stephan fry, Alan Rickman and Michael Sheen

The Tim Burton adaptation of Alice in Wonderland was announced by Walt Disney Pictures way back in 2008, and has been one of the most anticipated films of 2010. Everyone should be familiar with Tim Burton and his characteristically wild imagination that has had viewers on the edge of their seats since Beetlejuice hit the screens in 1988.

The film is set twelve years after the Lewis Carroll story ends. Alice is nearing twenty and is about to be proposed to by a young Lord. At her engagement party, Alice gets distracted by a white rabbit in a waistcoat and after following it, stumbles down a hole and falls into Tim Burton’s braingasm.

Upon her landing we arrive at the famous ‘eat me’, ‘drink me’ scene from the original Disney film. (suggestive? . . I kinda like a woman in a dress eight sizes too big) Here, Alice has to figure out how to get a key off a table and get through a tiny door so that she can continue on her journey. (Higher grade? I think not. Although this does take her a while). Once Alice enters Tim Burton’s fantastic world the viewer finds it so much more than the confusing drug induced stupor we imagined Lewis Carrol’s Wonderland to be. Underland, as it is formally known (and wrongly mispronounced by nine year old Alice during her first visit), is a world divided by the followers of the White Queen (the good guys), and the Red Queen (the Baddies). We become aware that the Red Queen laid waste to the land, stole the crown, and rules with an iron rod (or huge head). The Jabberwocky is the Red Queens trump card which she uses to demonstrate her authority and instil fear in the people. The story foretells of a prophecy that Alice is destined to fulfil. The prophecy tells that Alice is destined to slay the Jabberwocky, and free all the creatures in Underworld form the evil reign of the Red Queen and her large bulbous head (in an epic Naria-esque type battle).

The journey that Alice takes seems to mark her coming of age. Once she comes to terms with the reality of the situation she finds herself in, she overcomes the challenges presented to her, and emerges more mature and self-assured. The obvious moral of her personal journey for the viewer is stay true to oneself.

Johnny Depp’s character, the Mad Hatter, has become the face of the marketing campaign for the film. I was disappointed with the character. I don’t believe Johnny fully grasped the personality of the character. The Hatter is a mixture of Willy Wonka and Jack Sparrow (he changes accents several times). He is a ginger, with too much makeup; I think Johnny could have done a better job. There are several moments throughout the movie where he looks as though he wants to take his relationship with Alice to the next level. I don’t know if that was part of his character development, or just Johnny being a weirdo.

Highlights of the film: The March Hare was by far the best character. A member of the Mad Tea Party, he’s like a withdrawing meth addict with a major speech impediment, i.e. really funny; The Tweedles (played by Matt Lucas of Little Britain) are two short round kids who share a look of vague confusion on their faces, and who take completely opposite views to one another (the Red Queen employs them for entertainment. I would too). The animation is outstanding and the world truly reflects the mad genius of Carroll’s abandonment issues. During a fight scene, a mouse pokes out the eye of a huge monster dog and then carries it around as a talisman for the rest of the film. 3D kicks ass! Every time.

Lowlights of the film: Anne Hathaway just bums you out whenever she walks on to the set; Johnny Depp as a Ginger; Johnny Depp’s victory dance at the end which distracts you form the nature of the scene is a huge anti-climax; The Disney theme song which plays during the credits reminds you that people like Hanna Montana and the Jonas Brothers are always there in the music industry, draining the very life out of it.

Because it’s Tim Burton having a field day with Walt Disney money I give it an eight.

The New New Holland

On Saturday 21 of November 2009, I put on my dancing shoes and headed out to The Assembly to catch New Holland for the final show of their Exploded Views album launch tour of the year. The tour, organised through Red Fox Bookings, spanned over October and November, including cities and venues such as: the Mystic Boer, Bloemfontein; Back 2 Basix, Johannesburg; Tings ‘n Times, Pretoria; Klein Lebertas Stellenbosch; and finally The Assembly, Cape town. This was a band I had never seen live before, and after listening to their new album prior to the show, I was excited to see what they would offer a live audience.

Frontman TeeJay Terblanche was already working with drummer Odendaal Esterhuyse when he approached Gerdus Oosthuizen (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Ryno Buckle (bass guitar, backing vocals) to form a band. Soon after their formation they received the opportunity to be part of the Avontoer line up in December 2007.

New Holland recorded their debut album, 01, in March 2008 at Sunset Studios located on the Wechmarchof Estate in the Banhoek Valley just outside Stellenbosch. Working with recording engineer Jürgen von Wechmar, 01 was received with open arms by fans around South Africa which have grown significantly in numbers since the bands first appearance in 2007. Exploded Views was recorded at Terblanche’s recording studio, CoffeeStainedVinyl (where he also produced Ashtray Electrics debut album Bonjour) and produced by internationally acclaimed recording engineer Neal Snyman best known for his work at Butterfly Studios, London, with artists such as Tom Jones, David Bowie, Boy George and Crowded house.

The Assembly is famous for its consistency in quality entertainment. And the show I attended on Saturday was no different. New Holland walked out onto stage to the deafening screams of adoring fans. With a high power energetic opening the band set off the show with Uhuru from their debut album and followed with their two singles Shine, and Something to Believe in. The set was composed well and I felt embarrassed by the fact that I didn’t know as many of the words as the crowd did. The energy provided on stage by the band, was matched by their audience.

Performance wise, the band was tight; they played well and definitely made the last show of their album tour the biggest. With Miller on their list of sponsors, New Holland was able to deliver a high quality show, adding their own production visual effects to the already impressive Assembly lighting rig. I was however concerned by the quality of the sound that night. The performance on stage called for a sound that was bigger than what was produced live. I expected to be hearing stadium drums that vibrated my bones and guitars and voice that filled the hall. The backing track was inconsistent with the overall mix, specifically in the percussion section. This would not have been an issue, if the band did not have a sampled introduction to their set. When they began playing their instruments, the change in levels from the backing track to live was so vastly different that the transition was jarring and I took a few seconds to recover and get used to the live drum kit. This technical flaw in the show was persistent throughout and did not seem to bother the engineers involved.

I believe that the area where New Holland excels is the manner in which they have gone about their business in their music career thus far. In the space of two years they have produced and released two albums of a very high standard. They have played numerous, highly publicised festivals, including Oppikopi 2009 and Ramfest 2009 and are on the line up for Earthdance 2009. I believe that their marketing, coupled with their enthusiasm and passion for music, will only see them further. New Holland is one of those bands enriching the quality of local music and I expect to see and hear some big things from them in 2010.