The Sunday News
SHOW business is a very risky business. Very tricky. Just ask any local promoter who has tried putting up a couple of shows and he/she will tell you music or arts promotion is no walk in the park. I also believe it is not for the faint hearted. I cannot imagine what would happen if a weak hearted promoter was to put up all his money on a show and no one turns up to watch it. This has happened before. I know a couple of businesspeople that tried promoting both local and foreign artistes and nearly went burst because they could not realise anything from the show. One or two promoters went into hiding for weeks — running away from debtors and service providers they owed money. Another couple were so burnt they never tried promoting shows again.
Showbiz, as arts promotion is known all over the world, is about audiences. It is about getting people out of their houses and attending shows and the more the people that attend the better the business. The business is in selling tickets and getting audiences to buy food and drinks inside the venue of the show. Those who have done it properly will tell you that proper money is not even on the gate but in sales — beer, soft drinks and eats sold inside the venue. In the past there have been artistes who were sure crowd pullers. Any day of the week their shows would pull sizeable crowds. Artistes like Tuku, Macheso and the likes of Suluman Chimbetu were what one would call bankable artistes. You promoted their shows and you were assured of a trip to the bank the following morning. Big crowds came to their shows. South African artistes were another sure one way to the bank, especially in Bulawayo. All promoters had to do was to find the right amounts of money to sign these artistes. However, trends are slowly changing and some unfortunate promoters have been burnt seriously in the process.
In the last three or so months audiences have been behaving strangely. They have not been turning up for shows. Twice Alick Macheso has come to Bulawayo and failed to fill the Amphitheatre. His followers will tell you it was because of bad publicity that came with his maintenance case and the controversy that followed immediately after. However, Macheso is not the only one who failed to pull the crowds in Bulawayo in recent months. Zahara also came here and an empty venue yawned before her. The promoter that had hoped to raise some money for charity through that particular show was left wondering what exactly went wrong. Instead of raising money through the Zahara show the promoter obviously incurred debts. Top South African DJs and entertainers like Black Coffee and Professor came here and were totally surprised to perform to near empty venues. And the biggest flop in the last two years must be the Sifiso Ncwane show. This show was only attended by a handful of people.
But when we all thought it was all hopeless to put up a show and get a sizeable crowd to attend live shows the “little known” Vocal Extraordinaire (Vocal Ex) choir took their show “Sithi Uyingcwele” to Large City Hall and behold the place was almost full. The audience at the Large City Hall last weekend was by far the best and the biggest audience witnessed at a live arts event in Bulawayo this year. How did they do it? What was their formula? Local promoters must take a leaf from this choir and the organisers of their show. I have also attended small and intimate shows and got surprised by the attendance. In Harare word is that dancehall music is pulling the crowds and filling venues. So what exactly is happening? What exactly do our audiences want? Is it quality they are looking for or something fresh and new or something they know already and are familiar with?
Advice to those that want to go into promotion: Do a thorough audience research before going into the business with everything you got.
