Breathe Sunshine Engage with Greg Walsh

How did you get involved with the Breathe Sunshine Engage conference?

Greg Walsh I was invited to speak on the panel alongside the various prestigious speakers. They thought that my experience and achievements in the industry would be of value to the panel and I am very excited to be on board.

You will be on the panel discussing management issues in SA music, what do you see as some of the major obstacles still to overcome with regards to event and music management in South Africa and Africa?

1. There remains an urban- vs white-style music culture within electronica, which limits the size and opportunity of any one event, DJ or show and it would be nice to break this boundary.

2. Lack of depth of talent development management - we have a situation where we have a few stars in SA who are only scratching the surface on a global level - essentially, no one is helping them get out there and the ones who are out there are always the same names.

3. A slightly close-minded governmental and municipal view on supporting events. Many of the world's leading festivals happen in the middle of residential suburbs with great support from all parties because they understand the greater positive and the effect that entertainment can have on tourism and the GDP.

4. A lack of depth in consumers interested in entertainment with sufficient income to afford events. We need to be charging global prices for global artists, but instead we rely on sponsorships and cost-cutting techniques because our consumers cannot afford to pay the same ticket prices as they can in the rest of the world and global talent does not recognise this.

How have you seen the South African music industry grow over the years?

We have come from a single promoter, concert-driven landscape. What we have seen over the last 10 years is that there has been a wave of new promoters, new festivals, a brand new underground music scene and ever-growing audience interest. If we can break a few of the remaining barriers the future looks bright for entertainment in SA.

What is your hope that initiatives like the Breathe Sunshine Engage Music Conference will achieve when it comes to the music industry?

1. Showcasing local talent abroad.

2. Further highlighting SA as an attractive touring destination for international artists.

3. Showcasing SA festivals and music brands for potential future export and educating the SA music industry on the importance of the move towards content and content ownership.

What would you say are the important factors to bear in mind when it comes to pulling off a successful and smooth-running event or festival?

1. Understanding your consumers and what they want

2. Finding and importing or locally creating world-class experiences, which speak to the needs and desires of target consumers.

3. Actively understanding where to find target consumers and how to communicate with them in a way that touches them spiritually and emotionally and finally;

4. Logistically ensuring you create both an exciting, well-thought-out, visually appealing, musically emotive platform, whilst also paying very special attention to creating a safe and hospitable environment, with every potential risk, pre-planned and mitigated for well in advance of the event.

Space Ibiza, Armin Only Intense, Sensation and Rage have been some of the projects you have worked on; which has been the most fun and rewarding?

I think Sensation was the biggest achievement, purely because of the level of sponsorship, the sheer time and capital investment required to make it a success. Rage, for me, is by far the most fun and rewarding as it has always been our platform for innovation, pushing the sponsorship barriers and growing the industry to what we know it to be today.

What is it about EDM that gets your pulse racing and who are some of your favourite local artists?

EDM doesn't get my pulse racing; I am far more interested in deep house, deep tech, techno and Balkan music than I am personally in 'mainstream EDM'. However, what does really interest me in EDM is the scale of the shows, festivals and technical and decorative productions that have defined the EDM movement. It's the business of and production of EDM that floats my boat!

You must have worked with some great artists throughout your career, who have been the most memorable?

Three really stand out for me: Armin van Buuren, Nervo and Dimitri Vegas, and Like Mike. They stand out mostly for the way our audiences reacted to their performances and for their total humility and grace in all of our dealings with them.

What's next for G&G Productions? Any more exciting events lined up you can tell us about?

We do have something exciting in the pipeline, which I can't discuss yet but otherwise our strategic growth will be focused not so much on the next new event, but rather further developing our existing world-class properties.

The Breathe Sunshine African Music Conference aims to encourage networking and the sharing of information between all involved in the African music community.

Tickets: R195: Full-day ticket, R595: Combination ticket for Breathe Sunshine Engage and Vodacom In The City. To purchase tickets go to www.breathesunshineconference.com/engage-tickets

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