Going online to promote SA music

The platforms in question are MTN Xploaded, Capetownmagazine.com's JukeBox, Southern African Music Rights Organisation's (SAMRO) blog and Facebook fan page, SpeakerBox (powered by social media platform Blueworld), and Channel24. These services each offer fans and artists alike a space to listen and be heard, and show that the South African music industry is a buzzing environment.

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MTN Xploaded

According to Bridget Bhengu, senior manager: communication and public relations for MTN, the motivation behind the MTN Xploaded initiative has been to provide opportunities for artists to publish original music and generate revenue through an online audience.

It not only serves as a platform for emerging artists but also as a wider channel of distribution. Music can be uploaded onto the site and then downloaded to cellphones for transfer to computers and playback devices. All legalities are handled by MTN Xploaded, including royalties, publishing and music rights. The project, according to Bhengu, will be assisted by a specialised marketing programme designed to attract significant and measurable public interest, and to uncover artists that are commercially viable.

"The mobile environment is becoming an increasingly significant channel for launching new music. Mobile music is so popular because it offers convenience, reach, personalisation and entertainment. The use of True Tones and Caller Tunez is part of the trend to personalise mobile phones as a form of self-expression. Many music fans have chosen to substitute portable music players with their mobile handsets as their music player of choice," remarks Bhengu.

‘Costs significantly lower'

"The costs of delivering mobile music are significantly lower than those associated with distributing physical product and this lowers the traditional barriers for new entrants, the benefits of which can be passed on to consumers in terms of lower pricing."

The official MTN Xploaded web and WAP services is, however, only accessible via MTNLoaded, and MTN Xploaded content is only available to MTN customers for purchase but will be extended to all mobile phone users in South Africa in the near future.

"MTN will launch IVR, USSD and WIG menu functionality, offering customers access to weekly-updated MTN Xploaded Top Tracks," says Bhengu.

Bhengu believes MTN Xploaded is the "full music lifestyle offering," as it combines digital content with reviews, blogs, gig guides, user ratings etc. Bands are also able to access advice and mentorship from industry experts via the MTN Xploaded Artist Manager Programme, which is aimed at helping artists succeed as professional musicians.

Submit demo

Artists looking to participate in MTN Xploaded need to submit a demo to the MTN Xploaded A&R department, which is tasked with identifying and developing music talent. Artists will be accepted based on a combination of songwriting skills, musical ability and an overall "X-factor".

However, MTN Xploaded is not a record label, points ou Bhengu, "Artists are required to sign an 18-month digital exclusivity contract with MTN Xploaded, which allows them to sell music via all other physical channels and selected digital channels. The artist will retain all master rights to their work."

"Fans, along with artists, form the core focus of the MTN Xploaded offering. Fans will be able to interact with their favourite artists via blogs, will have access to live music events calendars via our gig guide, and will be able to rate content and live events. However, we are very excited that the role of fans will extend beyond the digital offerings, and MTN Xploaded is being launched with the aim of recreating a live music culture in South Africa; locally, regionally and nationally," says Bhengu.

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CapeTownMagazine.com's JukeBox

Being a travel magazine, this platform has more of an international audience. The JukeBox is for local SA musicians trying to break into the international market. CapeTownMagazine.com is based on travel and culture in South Africa and has a storytelling format that is based in African culture in order to sell SA products.

According to Marc Zandhuis, founder and managing director of CapeTownMagazine.com, the aim of JukeBox is to introduce and direct people to SA music via the Internet.

"My South African friends love some of the music, but also don't really make an effort to find the good music. My overseas friends have no clue - they think drumming is the be-all of African music. SA's music is all over the place and they are stunned when I play them the music, but if they walk into a shop here, they are faced with hundreds of CDs and have no clue where to start. We're going to change that and be that ‘best friend' to introduce people to the music via the internet," says Zandhuis.

Three editions

This online magazine has three editions in English, German and Dutch and plans on driving the JukeBox platform in all three languages. This way, foreigners can discover and listen to songs from SA while browsing through album selections and listening to featured tracks via streaming audio that are available for free download to registered readers.

Each album has a write-up and purchasing options are provided via record companies, which sign up to have their artists featured.

Jukebox is a simple low-tech platform and works well for the Internet magazines demographic: "It's simple: technology is a means, not an aim. We developed the JukeBox with simplicity as the focus... simply click play. If you like it, you can buy it on iTunes, in the shop or on the artist's website of the artist. Also it's a lot less ‘commercial' with this set up. I believe this works better in the end for the products and the readers. Over 53% of our readers are 40+ so we need to keep it as simple as possible," says Zandhuis.

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SAMRO in cyberspace

SAMRO recently launched its own blog and Facebook fan page as part of its social media marketing strategy. Through the blog, SAMRO hopes to foster constructive debate within the SA music industry and serve as an educational tool to assist up-and-coming composers and musicians. The organisation intends to update the blog frequently with commentary, events, photos and video clips.

The Facebook fan page, according to SAMRO, was created in order to stimulate questions, comments and observations relating to music issues and serves as a point of contact, as well as to be another platform to share and spread content.

"The South African music community has always been outspoken in its views on musicians' rights, piracy, the state of the industry and other pressing issues," says Yavi Madurai, SAMRO's marketing GM.

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"However, many feel that there is no proper forum for them to express themselves. Through these dedicated Internet spaces, we hope that important issues discussed in an informal virtual meeting place. We want to create an online buzz around South African music."

• Next time, we will look at SpeakerBox and Channel24. All other social media or online driven SA music initiatives are invited to email to be featured in part two of this series.