Tonnie talks to Ted Josiah (April 2007)

Music Business

In the Eyes of Ted Josiah

Music is a business venture, and an exceptionally, money-spinning one at that. If you take a peek at the who’s who list of celebrities with the most buck, musicians ride at the very crest. Why then, one would ask, don’t most musicians in Kenya live the affluent lives that are characteristic of their fellow artistes in other countries?

HFM’s Anthony Nabiliki spoke to ace music producer Ted Josiah of BluZebra, one of the foremost authorities in the contemporary music scene on the Business of Music and the other auxiliaries that are pegged to it.

On nurturing musical Talent The first step is to find out if you are actually able to sing then take ample time to grow slowly. Listen to different music genres and take keen interest in them; learn how to play at least one musical instrument for your own personal growth; learn how to adapt to different environments and know who your target is; don’t be too wary of experimenting further and always put your heart and soul to your music.

On the Music Business It is not entirely true that Kenyan musicians do not make enough money. A good number of popular local artistes make up to Kshs 500,000 every other month. Just like in any other business, Music needs a well-defined Business plan and Career plan. Musicians should learn how to reinvest in themselves inorder to grow. Creative people tend to have “creative” ways of spending. After a good pay some musicians would want to buy flashy cars and clothes to simulate a “superstar” life while neglecting the music. It is important to have the two sides of it and view the business as business because it is literally self-employment. A simple plan can be to take a percentage of their earnings for whatever period and put it into your business account. The monies saved can be ploughed back into your business by investing in a new CD or VCD or going back to the studio to record an album; or buy some new music equipment.

The mushrooming of what I call “cottage studios” is not a negative development since it shows that there is a larger creative space now. But there has to be checks and balances and the people best placed to effect these checks and balances is society. If society chooses to embrace music with lewd lyrics and have even their children happily sing along then it is the same society that hurts in the end.

OnManagers There are no good managers in Kenya. The scenario in this country is that the manager depends entirely on the musician and does not go out of his way to invest in the artiste’s talent and time. The manager’s work does not start and end on getting gigs for the artiste. They are people who are supposed to help you grow and grow effectively. That is why most well established artiste’s in the west have people close friends and relatives working as their managers. A good example is Celine Dion whose husband Rene Angelil acts as her manager and at some point even sold their house inorder to invest in her talent. Beyonce’s Dad is her manager, Usher’s mum is his manager, this pattern shows that it is not just about business but a matter of trust and belief in ones talent.

On the Media In this world there are those people who are dream catchers and those who are dream killers. Some sections of the media for some reasons known to them are dream killers. They are in some way competing with the artistes for fame and in the end process shooting down the efforts put in by an artiste to build his dreams and ambitions. While on the other hand there are sections of the media that supports artistes and help in building the music industry in this country.

On Royalties Music is an Intellectual Property and there has to be regulations on how to safeguard this property. Artistes should be more informed on their rights and speak out as a unified voice. Satisfaction breeds content, and that is why musicians are not benefiting fully from their talent. The Music Copyright Society of Kenya collects monies on behalf of artistes from airplay and other avenues and the artistes should be more vocal about benefiting from these royalties. It is only them who can stand and speak for themselves

On project fame Project fame was a wonderful experience and I got a chance to meet great new talent that have the capacity to steer the music industry to a whole new plateau.

On his major achievements
I have had many moments but I can point out the time when a song I produced was really played on radio substantially. That was hardstone’s hit Uhiki. Then when Kalamashaka ruled had three of their songs toping the local charts. Then another memorable moment was when a song I produced for Necessary Noise was nominated for an Oscar award after being used as a soundtrack in the movie The Constant Gardener