How Do Musicians Spend their Money?

Do not be cheated, Malawian musicians have managed to hit gold through our very patronage when we buy their music and lately, they are making more money with live shows.

If you want to attend a musical show at Ozone for example, be ready to part ways with a thousand kwacha. If you are to attend a show at Mzuzu Hotel Boma Park, keep K800 in the pockets, because that’s what they will demand for you to pass through the gate.

A minimum of 1000 people most of the times would have passed through the gate, meaning K800, 000 would have been pocketed. If the fans are as many as 2000 which is a common feat when the show is either for The Blacks or Lucius Banda then the figures are in seven digits. 

Added to this, there are street sales of the album through compact cassettes or compact disks which is minus the musical DVD which when thrown into the fray and with good patronage, the money becomes so big to be true. 

Then there is also Mechanical, Public Performance and Broadcasting Royalties, which most of the times come as a surprise to musicians who end up buying cars and other useless expensive consumable items for they do not have any single idea what to do with their money.

Malawian musicians will always complain that the market is exploitative and this is the reason they cannot prosper. While this, to a large extent could be true, there is also one area that they do not talk about; this is where windfalls like manna avails itself for their taking. And this comes when you look at the way money comes in.

I think we can easily follow the musicians and find out how they manage their worth.

It reminds me of what happened on December 29, 2009, when Lawrence Mbenjere set a new record when he became the first musician to cart home money in excess of over K2.5 million in royalties.

I wrote about it then, and then as is the case today, my interest is not to discuss whether that was a vote of approval of what he is churning out by the consumers or there are other factors at play, but my interest would be; has he really benefited from this money? Has he managed it properly?

What was also historical was the fact that since the establishment of the Copyright Society of Malawi (COSOMA) 15 or 17 years ago at that time, K2, 523, 459.16 was the biggest money it ever dished out to a single musician.

It has not given out again since then, I should hope this year, COSOMA is supposed to pay the musicians.

At least in 2009 Lucious Banda carted home K1, 094, 579.10, Thomas Chibade K712, 742.48. Joseph Nkasa who in 2003 got a million got K597, 942.27 this time round.

Mbenjere to get this kind of money, accumulatively he amassed K2.35 million from Mechanical Royalties that an artist receives after they record with a record company.

On the other hand, K103, 000 Mbenjere earned from broadcasting royalties that comes from air play of an artist’s music by a radio or TV station. He also amassed a meagre K66, 000 from Public Performance Royalties unbelievably, this is the money that is earned when the artist’s music is played in public places like bars, hotels etc.

While I still doubt COSOMA’s capacity to ably manage the collection of money from all public places where music is played as no COSOMA official ever visits most bars and such places, I wonder how this is done.

 I still want to know how musicians, whose music is played there, ever profit from such ongoing.

There is no way; a bill for institutions like radio can beat that of public places. This is what I find sticky with the management of the Public Performance Royalties.

This is also not to mention the poor remittance on Broadcasting Royalties, by such shameless institutions like MBC.

My contention today is not about MBC, it is about the management aspect of these little resources that our musicians accrue.

At least Lucius Banda has numerous business establishments including Summit Cultural Centre in the Capital Lilongwe and Zembani Lodge and a music company with the same name.

Likewise, Mbenjere Music and Video Production companies at least have their works sprouting about, meaning this is an investment of some kind.

I am yet to find out how Joseph Nkasa or Thomas Chibade has invested their resources.

The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture, which is supposed to be looking after the musicians, is doing little to change the status quo to egg on the investing mentality in our musicians. I remember director of culture in the ministry, Bernard Kwilimbe, himself a reputable musician, said at one time that there is a ignorance on the part of musicians as they not know that this is a calling that goes with proper planning. Planning comes from proper management, no?

While there is this knowledge by government, there is nothing that it has so far done to help improve the situation on the ground; one way to achieve this is to conduct several clinics within the year to equip musicians with music management.

Feedback:drummingpen@columnist.com

Malawi 0 – Zambia 4

By the look of things, the line up alone would tell you a different story. A story that would include a full line up Malawian side against a Zambian side that had one representative and you would wrongly think the Lusaka influence would pale into insignificance.

Lucius Banda, Lulu, Maskal, Piksy, Dan Lufani, Wendy Harawa and of course The Blacks made the Malawi team while only The Organised Family duo represented Zambia. You would say Malawi had an upper hand.

But the reality on the ground is that Malawi tumbled miserably. Whereas Malawi brought quantity, Zambia brought quality. Whereas Malawi brought noise and erratic over-dramatisation, the Zambian duo, which was ironically backed by a Malawian Mizati Band, provided the entertainment that was spell binding to the thousands that thronged the Robins Park last weekend.

Malawi’s biggest culprit was Maskal. He failed the Malawi team as if this was his first show; in other words he displayed irresolute qualities of a debutant. He had no idea what level to start his song with. He started on a high note and ended up stepping himself all over.

Listening to his CDs one cannot help it but appreciate that Maskal is a good act when it comes to singing, but on this day he resorted to shouting.

To an extent, Lulu also helped to condemn the Malawi team to the category of mediocrity.

I don’t know what has come over him, to start with. He is sporting a new hair style; long hairs that did not do badly, given who he is. He was putting on a shining tar-gray suit but he kept on trying to fiddle with his slacks pockets with the freer hand as the other was holding on to a microphone, which was distracting as those watching him were trying to fathom what it is he was trying to get from the pockets.

Then one thing came out clearly, Lulu was trying to copy Michael Jackson through his hairdo, dressing, dancing antics and how he was throwing about his vocals. I wish he had stuck to the Lulu he introduced to the public from the onset.

Lucius Banda needs to be more innovative now. Apart from his new message where he is pleading with people not to get fat – saying obesity is killing a lot of people – his stage music antics are becoming predictable and monotonous like the Black Missionaries.

Dan Lufani was poignant to himself I guess. He was more satisfied with what he was doing than taking caution of what the audience expected from him. You know that feeling when you end up with a bittersweet aftertaste? This is what Dan gave the audience. He never exactly knew where to take them.

Armstrong needs to do more. Apparently he only has one track. The rest of the music that he played provoked many to protest that he was not stirring the people that thronged Robins Park by touching where it matters most. This tells him something though, if he is the learning type. He better go back to the drawing board lest he remains a one-hit-artist.

Black Missionaries still managed to ride on the names of their dead makers; Evison Matafale and Msamude Fumulani.  There is still lack of the sting; I mean they still bring that familiar act. Who has to think for them, surely, so that they become more new and move away from the template of their forbearers?

The other person that failed the audience is Collen Ali, the so called sound engineer of the day. What is wrong with preparations for live shows in Malawi?

This other day The Black Missionaries mocked the spirits of their dead makers when they ill-prepared and spent half of the time for the memorial show in Chileka in trying to rectify faltering equipment.

Likewise even with Multichoice as the owners of the show, still the intermittent provision of service from the engineering crew and their equipment left many with sour mouths.

There was a time when Piksy was playing where the bass guitar disappeared. Luckily, because of the nature of his music he managed to keep up the temperature on the dance floor by continuing doing some clowning around with rhyming lyrics bordering on sexual inference from his songs.   

This is what failed The Blacks when they were faced with a similar situation. Apart from Anjiru filling the speakers with sweet nothings, they lost out on a number of patrons some of whom decided enough was enough and decided to call it a day.

This was so because before The Blacks the Zambian duo of the Orga Family terrorised the dance floor when jerked patrons appreciating things as they unfolded from their seats to stand up and try break and twist a tendon or two. They felt Orga Family had compensated them enough.

If local artist were around to watch their counterparts, I guess they learnt a lesson or two of what it means to master the art of making the audience feed from your palm.

Feedback:drummingpen@columnist.com