Nachimba Bone is one half of the dancehall duo from Tamale. Having released several chart topping songs in the savanna, they remain a strong pillar in advancing the course of music in the savanna. He recently took to facebook to express his opinion about happenings in the music in industry; especially in the savanna.
Let’s dissect the issues raised by Nachimba Bone Paragraph after paragraph; or issue by issue.
“What a funny Music Industry? Everybody is claiming to be a king but we have nothing to show for it. Right now as I’m speaking, our only means of earning income in the industry as northern musicians is through shows, I mean shows organised by you yourself because even if someone wants you are to be part of his show, they expect you to do it for free and if you talk about money, the organizers become annoyed and feel like u are being difficult or too known. After all if you refuse because of money ur colleagues are willing to use their own money to buy costumes and perform for free. So u see, how then can the industry grow?”
Obviously Nachimba Bone has confined his artistry to his locale, and as such I would stay within the perspective. The growth of Tamale, and lending credence to the formation of “fan-bases” has led to the, “everyone is claiming to be king” situation, the real question is Nachimba Bone’s own statement; “we have nothing to show for it”.
A fine balance between appreciating what I can safely refer to as the “core fan-base” , and the desire to succeed, makes the locale-oriented Kingship another laurel; not a definitive representation of the fact in showbiz success. So, in a town where artistes allow the tag to eat into heads, it could potentially kill any inner crave for success beyond Noyhini.
Immortal Technique once alluded to the fact that if pet psychologists have markets, then his music has a market. I pointed in paragraph three of the part one of this article some key revenue streams for musicians. the likes of Nachimba Bone need to realise that, riches/success is not simply relying on what is traditional, but accessing information to complement existing ways to generate revenue. You have a choice to charge anyone who engages your services, however, always do a bit of retrospection, firm up what you really want and go to negotiating table. Be definitive, “it’s business or it ain’t”. The dicey part is when you’re being engaged by people who sacrificed to make you the celebrity; however, if you possess a business acumen and respect the structures that govern music, it shouldn’t be difficult, neither should any negative tag associated with your decision be a bother.
The industry will grow when we begin having deals and contracts that ensure each investment gets an appropriate ROI. You don’t ask others to support your growth for free, and when it’s time to payback the gesture, you start thinking NO WAY…That’s selfish, greedy and to an extend a hypocritical approach to business.
“Those days when people used to buy audio cassettes and CDs, it used to help the artists and producers a lot because even if ur show flops, you’ll still be able to make up for the losses through sales of the cassettes and CDs. In this era, artists somewhere are making money through music sales on digital platforms like iTunes but from our side it’s different because fans find it time consuming to download from free online portals like ghanatrase.com and co so U’ll use lots of cedis to record a song, spend more money in promoting it, and at end of the day u will buy data bundle to share the song to people for free hoping that when you put up a show, people will attend and U’ll make ur money back but at end of the day the amount u’ll pay for the venue alone will consume all the money U’ll make afterwards. Brothers n sisters, for how long are we going to be suffering for nothing.”
I personally buy CD’s whenever I visit the savanna. Maybe you are not doing what’s right and can push sales. Re-think the strategy employed in selling CD’s. Instead of assuming fans are dumb, how about spending up considerable time in advocating the purchase of your music? Your song on www.Ghanatrase.com is absolutely your choice. Instead of uploading songs for free downloads, you should be posting links for purchasing songs through publications. Secondly, stop concentrating on the few fans within the locale, there’s a market for world music. Do it right, and you will sell across the world. Business is not premised on “maybe’s”; give it a scientific approach and be realistic, don’t assume giving songs for free would translate into massive event attendance. Man is not programmed like that. Anytime you make a move, ask yourself,” why I’m I doing this?”, If the answer satisfies you, good to go.
“Those whom everybody think are helping the Industry are rather those who are killing it slowly simply because of their own personal interests. They will always try to use u for free and u can’t complain. Even if you are going to be paid by the original organisers of the show, they will take the money and use their relationship with you and plead for you to help them. And they are the same who people who insult artists that they are not neatly dressed, they repeat costumes, they don’t do this, they don’t do that but forgetting that their greed and selfish interests is what is killing the Industry. If you have confidence in them as an industry player and introduce an investor to them for the benefit of you both, they won’t do much to help and they will try to take a lion share at the end of the investment so the investor will be discouraged and leave. They only care about their big bellies but how to keep the industry running, they don’t care.”
Reality check; music is a business, business can be very exploitative. Personal interest demands craftiness; and that’s exactly what “industry players” employ in the grande “rape” of artistes. But then again, the artiste is also pursuing matters of self-interest. The damning part of the above comment from Nachimba Bone’s post is the middleman role artistes allow non-team members to play. If an artiste has a management team, why should someone else negotiate on their behalf? Secondly, what stops the parties involved from having a mutually beneficial agreement regarding out-sourcing contract negotiations? Truth is that, your confidence in the so-called industry player is borne of selfish interest; and not necessarily their business prowess. Your hope is that, one day you will get some free services. When you find an investor, think business and place your interests first. Stop running to dimwits whose success story is deeply embedded in ignorance and constant deceit. Remember, to the blind, the one-eyed man is King.
“So until Northern Musicians put our differences and ego aside and come together and fight for a common goal, we will continue to be looked down upon, people will continue to enjoy the fruits of our labour and insult us in addition. Until we understand that Music is strictly business and not Father Christmas kind of thing, Until we realise that unity is the key tht can keep us moving forward, we will continue to Suffer for others to benefit.
Now I hope you’ll understand that if an artist isn’t on every bill, it doesn’t classify him as irrelevant.
Let those who have ears listen. Ah yirrrrr wi seh. “
Well, the above sounds ideal, but the ethnic bigotry; unhealthy rivalry and self-accorded importance doesn’t make room for a common-goal-fight. People would continue to enjoy the fruits of your labour if you do not think business. They will insult you because you don’t value what you have, thus you continue to go abegging.
Everyone wants to make money. No one is here to support others to grow and leave em. Until musicians consider the business and structures that govern their craft seriously; and consciously seek to employ workable practices, it will just be a repeat cycle of hypocrisy.
Need I remind you; Music is Business Nachimba Bone.
Nachimba Bone, you made a good attempt to court controversy, on the back of which you could release a single; ingenious, but not enough. You should have mentioned names and cited examples to effectively drive the controversy.
Artistes from the savanna need to understand stunts and shenanigans better.
Listen & Download Pretty Girls by Nachimba Ft. Scottish Prince Below.
[disk_player id=”2410″]
Check out Part 1 of this article here.