Make A Living Performing Music - Building Alliances

ONE THING KHULI CHANA, AKA AND DA L.E.S HAVE BEEN DOING THAT'LL GUARANTEE YOU SUCCESS AS AN ARTIST

Looking at rappers on the come up nowadays is hella frustrating for me. Rappers and in fact, artists in South Africa are so blinded by the Jozi lights that they are missing key elements that those who’ve gotten ahead of them hardly ever share for free. In fact, these days there’s a growing trend of holding conferences for musicians and artists alike, and while I have no qualms with Masters sharing invaluable information, I strongly feel that to attend these conferences just to attain basic information is well…for lack of a better word, kak.

As an artist who wants to make a living from my artistry in South Africa, I’ve had a very tough time trying to find information on the net about the South African Music Industry as a whole. Generally, those websites that are listed are looking to get into your pockets. They really aren’t interested in furthering your interests as much as they are interested in what they can gain from pretending to further your interests. Wang’thola?

What’s a girl to do?

It turns out that I can actually do a lot. And because I am an unknown artist who is on this journey just like you are, I’m going to be VERY GENEROUS with the information I find because I strongly believe in EACH ONE TEACH ONE and also because I am a genuinely nice person. We are rare. The SA Music Industry is so so tiny, and because of that I think it suffers from the Napoleon Complex. You’re going to have to google that if you don’t know what it means.

Right.

Today I want to talk a little about Kuli Chana, AKA and Da Les and the brilliant, longstanding strategy that played a huge role in getting them in the forefront of the SA hip hop scene. How many times in the past seven to eight years have you seen these three on a video together even when the track belonged to just one of them? Think back, I’ll wait. The answer is MANY. Were they doing this just because they enjoyed each other’s company? Possibly. Is there a point to all of my rambling..?

BUILDING ALLIANCES

You musicians who don’t want to rub shoulders with other musicians in your genre or on your level are two things:

1) Afraid of competition

2) Afraid to find out you suck

Talent alone will NEVER guarantee success. Aneva. Your big head and ill flow wont amount to dosh in the bank. You will instead whip out the old CV, talented as you are, and go work at the call centre because everybody was right. Music as a career in SA is non-existent. Poppycock! You sabotaged yourself by buying into your brilliance and so when opportunities to work with other artists on your level came around, you side stepped the guy with 200 fans on facebook and went into Cassper Nyovests inbox to ask for a feature. Good luck!

Here’s what you missed out on because of your ignorance.

1) Tapping into guy with 200 fans on Facebooks fan base

When the feature is done and you guys are ready to release it to the world. What’s probably going to happen is that you would approach a magazine like ours that prioritises the underground and submit your song. Next, you both would hit up your fans on your various social networks and talk about the track there, thus getting access to the fan base of the guy with whom you worked with while you do the same for him. So instead of the 50 fans you had in total, you’re sitting with a potential 200 new fans that now know about you and your ill bars. Sweet!

2) Making the circle bigger

Now that you guys have worked together, you can meet each other’s influencers. You can network within each other’s circles, now and (provided you guys keep in good standing) in the future. Should the other guy make it a step above you, you will be able to tap into their network there and bring yourself up and vice versa…which brings me to my third and final point

3) Leverage

Using the name of someone who is now prominent in the industry as leverage is a tried and tested method of getting someone who’s above where you are to take note. But you can’t just say, “I know Amu”…yeah, you and about 100 000 other people. You’ve got to be slick about it. Try, “Listen to this track I did with Amu recently” and that will get you attention in a good way. You better have done that track with Amu, and it better be recent too because nothing drags your name like a ruined reputation. Even before you blow up. Our industry is tiny and word WILL get around.

That's it for my first of many MAKE A LIVING PERFORMING series. Look out for my next post in this series where I'll talk about FINDING YOUR OWN VOICE AND SELLING THAT.

Don’t despise humble beginnings and always seek out alliances. That’s what Khuli, AKA and Da L.e.s did all those years ago when they formed an alliance which still stands strong today. They are all very successful in their own right. Endorsements for major brands and all. They still appear regularly in each other’s videos and still make hits featuring one another. They chose team instead of I and their bank accounts are fat as a result.

Till Next Time,

Busa