Where is Carlsberg in Music?

If anything, Carlsberg Breweries limited should have been the main player in the country’s music industry.

Look at how many crates of beer will sell if musicians are performing, look at the blaring sound that is a dominant fixture in all beer selling spots. Do we need to tell the marketing gurus at the breweries company of the need to give back to musicians?

For two years running now, South African Breweries has been funding Lucius Banda’s trips to perform in that country. This year too, Lucius Banda will perform alongside Lulu in Johannesburg and Durban.

Imagine if people had gone to sip their Carlsberg beer and found that there is no music and that all they can listen to is the noise of silence.

The East African Breweries Limited realised what their business would become if this were to be the case and they have, for many years now, been investing in music. The good thing with investing in music by breweries is that they create a win-win situation.

The East African Breweries Limited has been carrying out competition for musicians in the Eastern African Region called Tusker Project Fame – a reality Television competition, which was at a value of 1 billion Kenyan shillings which is an equivalent of 12.8 million US dollars which is about 1.92 billion kwacha. All this money invested in music, imagine!

I am not saying, our Carlsberg Breweries should do likewise, but they, at least, should appreciate that without music, there will be no Carlsberg.

In the case of the East African Breweries Limited, it posted more success than they imagined with the Project fame and they never hesitated after unveiling the new Tusker brand to take the same musical route to sell the product and at the same time promote music and musicians.

If you ever attended musical shows you will see how refrigerators run dry as people scamper about trying to outdo each other in getting a bottle of beer, too many, than the other.

Lucius Banda says he has been selling Carlsberg for the last twenty years almost each and every weekend and yet, Carlsberg Breweries has never, at any time, thanked him in any way.

Now, by this, Lucius was only looking at his live shows, but he is also forgetting one way that he is helping in the sales of the alcoholic beverage where those that have bought his CDs will keep the dance floor hot with his music.

You have heard of Chez Ntemba in the Capital, Pa Stereo in Blantyre and Sport Cafe or Paris in Mzuzu. These places have been made famous because of not its beers, or prostitutes or revellers that patronise it; it has become famous not because of how majestic the infrastructure... It is music that has made their legend.

If you want to listen to latest songs around, you just have to visit these places. What are common in these joints are the larger-than-life speakers that threaten to force out your innards due to heaviness of sound that pound out of them.

If you must know, there are some revellers that will heavily patronise specific joints, specifically because of their knack for local latest music; musicians that are in their twilight have made it big somehow through these places.

And what this means is that there is just too big a market created by music for the beers to sell.

At least here in Malawi, Chibuku products realised this and they have been engaged in promotion of music although there has always been complaints from musical entrants in music competitions, ever since such competitions that include the Kuchekuche music awards started, that not much is done for the musician to benefit.

Kuchekuche is one from Carlsberg Breweries yes, but if you look at how much was involved and the intermittent commitment on display, you really wonder how the marketing strategy for the company is devised.

There is just no two ways about this, Carlsberg Breweries or better still any name that they call the company that has Carlsberg beers on our market need to come out and appreciate the musician for keep them in business all this long.

Feedback: drummingpen@columinist.com