Africa is proving herself as a force to be reckoned with in the global music scene, but all that will be like water under the bridge if practitioners have no business sense to make their music bear fruits.
Now in its 10th year, the DJU (Oskido, Greg “The Maestro”Maloka, DJ Fresh, Vinny Da Vinci and Christos) propelled Southern Africa music conference (SAMC), which attracts delegates/attendees from Kenya, Tshwane, Botswana, Rustenburg, Namibia, Cape Town, Polokwane, Mbombela, PE, Bloemfontein and more areas,takes place in both Joburg and Durban for the first time in the same year.
The DAC, NYDAand Gauteng Dept. of Sports, Arts and Culture(Midrand only) sponsored conference kicks off:
– JOHANNESBURG: 01 – 04 July at Club Truth (Midrand)
– DURBAN: 09 – 11 at Durban’s Dockland Hotel
Unlike our forebearers in the industry who died poor such as the great Mahlathini, Brown Dash, BusiMhlongo and many more, because of a lack of informative platforms, the SAMC seeks to change such a fate by empowering music business practitioners.True to www.forbes.com’s statement: “It used to be enough for a celebrity to act or sing really well. Today celebs need to be businesses,” the organisers have taken it upon themselves to create “business savvy musicians, marketers, producers and practitioners”.
With the music industry vastly moving to digital platforms, this year’s main themes at the conferences are Digital platforms, stakeholders in the market and global opportunities for music. Industry experts like Oskido, Vinny, Ralf Gum (SA/Germany), Rocco (France), Christos, Greg, Fresh,Chappel and Zinhle are some of the respected industry who will speak on these issues and various other relevant and vital subjects.
Comments the legendary Vinny Da Vinci:
“If one looks at the SAMC track record since day 1, years ago, one can see that we really have made strides in the game. In the beginning young people came to the conference I think mainly because of ‘curiosity’ and simply also because they were ‘fascinated’ by the DJ and the PRODUCER thing…That led to most of them getting into the game – becoming DJs and producers. A lot of them were like ‘VINNY, I’M A DJ SO HOW DO I BECOME LIKE YOU? Those were the kinds of questions we were getting and they didn’t know or think that it can be a career at the same time.”
“So over the years we tried to lead them in the right direction using our own experiences. Now that all that is done, it’s now time for them to take it to the next level hence we are now talking about opportunities that are out there using your music as a tool especially as a young producer/musician.”
Adds Vinny: “The one thing that I also think is most important as well is for the youngsters to treat the game as a job – just like any 9 to 5. I believe that once that happens, they will become business minded because the industry today is all about business and professionalism. Basically one should try and know the game, know his/her strengths and focus on that and in the end do the best that they can.
To register for the conference go to www.djusa.co.za or info@djusa.co.za. Tickets are only R150.
NOTE:This year’s Mother party will be:
VENUE: Kings Park Stadium – Durban
DATE: Saturday, 06 July
TICKETS: (Normal R190) – (VIP 500) and (R250 at the door) available at Computicket.
FEATURING: Dr Malinga, Professor, Black Motion and a crazy line-up of judges such as Fresh, Christos, The Musical Maestro, Euphonik, Vinny da Vinci, Zinhle, DJ Strategy, Ralf Gum (SA/Germany),Bobstar,Pepsi, DJ Siyanda, Sox, DJ Deep, Twitty and Uhuru.
