(Poor &famous book, chapter:1)

ALTHOUGH there are clear-cut standards and rules that govern the music industry across the world, Zimbabwe presents a unique scenario in which it plays by a different set of rules. If you follow the music business scene in other countries, you will be shocked to realize the differences when you look at Zimbabwe — from how the bands are formed, how they are run, how the musicians are treated by the authorities, how the musicians treat each other and how they are paid.

In 2013, I released an album titled Chronicles of a Rough Journey, to celebrate my Silver Jubilee in the music industry. One of the songs on the album is titled No Plan B. Here is how it opens…

Patakatanga taiti zvirinyore

Nechekure zvainge nyore (x2)

Takati tapinda, ndokuona aiwa kwete, ingamakata

In a nutshell, I meant that when we started off in music, we thought it was going to be easy because it looked easy from the outside, but when we ventured into the industry, we discovered it was an uphill struggle. The song is about how the trappings of glitz and glamour lure you, but when you get in, the business is really tough.

First of all, the population of Zimbabwe is small, estimated to be 15 million, compared to that of South Africa’s over 60 million and Nigeria’s over 200 million in 2017. The reason why population demographics matter is because a musician’s first audience is his countrymen. Your home support can boost your morale and guarantee strong financial support if you get buy-ins from the population and, consequently, this will make it easier for you to be embraced by the outside world when you step onto the international scene.  Musicians in the USA, South Africa, and Nigeria can survive without international support if they get support from home. In those countries, a small hit song can pay the artiste significant sums of money which will be enough to give the musician a good start in the industry and to finance their music business.

Greed

Generally, we have a serious problem in Zimbabwe when it comes to remuneration issues. In most cases, the leaders always think of themselves, whether it is in the music sector or other fields the wage gap between the boss and the worker is so wide that they live in totally different worlds. Usually, the boss takes over 90 percent for himself alone leaving everybody else to share the crumbs that fall from his table. It is very rare in Zimbabwe to see a band member who is able to buy a house from just being a band member, whilst successful band leaders can own a couple of houses in leafy suburbs and a fleet of expensive cars. In fact, even owning a cheap second-hand car can be a big achievement for a mere band member even if one is in the most popular band. A story is told about a very popular musician, who is now late, who used to say, “lmari yandapihwa nevadzimuvangu. Ndoita zvandinoda nayo.”^[1]

Most people would advise musicians to sign contracts during the start of the band, but it is one thing most bandleaders do not want to hear about. I remember a guitarist friend of mine who demanded that a contract be drafted and signed when he was invited to join a popular band. He was not hired because of that. A lot of band leaders do not want to have a fixed system, especially in terms of remuneration. Someone observed, “The ones who benefit from chaos will never embrace order.” It, therefore, means the money the musicians are paid is randomly decided upon by the band leader according to his mood at any given time. If, for example, the musician needs money for a certain project that he will be doing that week, the remuneration given to the

Band members will be very poor. Nothing is fixed. If the band is paid $20,000, for example, it is not surprising that the band leader can pocket $19,000 and the other members of the eight-piece band split the remaining $1,000 among themselves.

Intimidation and Fear

I remember when I joined a certain band early in my career. The money that I was offered was good. But after eight months, the band leader embarked on a building project and that proved disastrous for the band members because our remunerations nosedived. Everybody was not happy and there were always complaints during the band leader’s absence. The grumbling could go on even for eight hours, especially when we were traveling long distances. Members would exchange notes about how the bandleader was evil and how the pay cuts had affected them. But in the band leader’s presence, the band members would pretend to be happy and there would be a lot of bootlicking, giving the bandleader the impression that the salary cuts were not really problematic.

I then told the other members that we should engage the bandleader and have an amicable discussion around the issue than just smile at him when we were bleeding inside. However, it seemed no one was prepared to face the bandleader for fear that they would be given marching orders. This is one of the biggest problems we have in Zimbabwe. We are afraid to speak our minds. Zimbabweans in general fear confrontations, no matter how peaceful. Leaders are feared to the extent that the subjects will only speak out when they reach breaking point. Under such circumstances, however, tempers can easily flare and the results can be disastrous.

While I was trying to persuade the other band members to have the courage to speak out, one of them sneaked out and told the bandleader that I was organizing a rebellion against him. The problem of ‘leeches’ is rife in bands. This member was one of the loudest grumblers against the bandleader in his absence, but the most groveling bootlicker in his presence. He decided to spy on us. I then started my own drive to have the band leader come for a meeting but he denied it several times. Long-serving members in the band confided in me that he hated meetings and they had never had an official meeting with him. If we were going to have one, it would be the first-ever meeting in which band members would air their grievances. When we finally had the meeting, the majority of band members absconded for fear of victimization. In the majority of cases, band leaders take advantage of this fear to exploit band members and a lot of problems go unsolved. The end result is that the bosses (not only in the music sector) intimidate rather than motivate their workers.

When I was a member of one gospel band, the leader occasionally held meetings with the band to “iron out problems” but important issues concerning band members’ welfare were never discussed. No member was bold enough to raise concerns, but they always complained when the bandleader was absent.  It was an open secret that the money paid was far too little that band members became literally beggars. The band leader used the doctrine that the “peanuts” would be stretched to cover all your needs by prayer and faith. Of course, we prayed a lot but the prayers seemed to bounce off the walls like a tennis ball, so the doctrine was just a lie, a trick to use religious faith to underpay us.

I then broke the tradition less than a month after joining the band by speaking out and although I was raising concerns of every band member, they turned against me as they sought to curry favor with the bandleader. I however stuck to my position without wavering. But after the meeting, with the band leader gone, the other members switched sides again and congratulated me for being bold. I rebuked them for being hypocrites. This demonstrates that a lot of music bands in Zimbabwe are run using a dictatorship style in which fear is rampant. Do not be fooled by the smiles on stage during performances. It is all for show. It is just a facade 99 percent of the time. If one claims their band is different, then perhaps they are part of the 1 percent.

The other problem is that the majority of band leaders of big music outfits do not even mingle with their band members as soon as their name rises. Every little thing is communicated via the band manager. A number of band managers take advantage of this setup to steal money from the band members because the members have no access to the bandleader. I remember one big band that went for a few months without paying its members. The band leader would give the manager the money to pay the members and the manager would line his own pockets. No one was bold enough to tell the bandleader. He only noticed that the members were not happy at one gig and he asked one of them who later spilled the beans. That was how the matter came to light. Zimbabweans prefer the “silent treatment” where they just become moody without opening up to the authorities. This, however, does not work because moods are very easy to misinterpret. At times band members seem to be very irresponsible but the money they are paid at times is too little for any investment.

The Bundu Boys and the Four Brothers bands are the only two big music outfits that I know of in Zimbabwe which started off as partnerships till the end. They are the only bands that were run as a proper band with equal remuneration. Most bands start off as partnerships only for the lead vocalist to stage a very clever coup and assume full control of the band once the band becomes popular. Usually, the original members would leave in frustration and as the new members come in, obviously they cannot be on equal footing with the bandleader when the band was formed before they came.

The payment graph is usually like this in Zimbabwean bands:

1. Band leader
2. Band manager
3. Long serving band members
4. Other musicians and back-up singers
5. Dancers
6. Roadies and door minders.

The general band income is a closely guarded secret known only by the bandleader and his manager. This will enable them to decide the amounts to be paid without any interference from band members. Elsewhere in the world, that way of running a band is done when it is a sole proprietorship rather than a band set up. So the band setup system we have in Zimbabwe is just a façade. The only time the band knows the figures is when it is a free show, like charity events. When it comes to recorded music royalties, band members are given a once-off payment just like in sole proprietorship bands, but the members are expected to give full commitment like in a partnership-style band.

It is also an unwritten rule that only the band leader is allowed to write songs for the band. Any contributions by the band members are not credited. So the bandleader enjoys benefits of both worlds — the sole proprietorship benefits and benefits of having a band. It all depends on what suits him.

Elsewhere in the world when a band is formed the band members set rules and they abide by the rules. Sometimes they sign contracts and everybody in the band benefits financially. All members of the Irish rock band, U2, are rich. They even share song royalties with members who do not contribute to the songwriting. This is the same setup with the English rock band, Rolling Stones. In Zimbabwe, however, once the band members take off the glittering band uniforms when they leave the stage, they put on their tattered clothes.

When a band is called Mono Mukundu and the Skinny Monyas, it does not mean anything because Mono the band leader is also the band. He can fire the whole band and bring in new musicians and they will still be called The Skinny Monyas. Skinny Monyas, therefore, is just another name for Mono. There is no “we” in music bands in Zimbabwe. It is not a collective thing but a one-man ‘dictatorship’. Anyone who dares to speak up or challenge the band leader is fired and replaced quickly. It is disheartening that you would have started everything together, struggled together, and contributed the same effort and time, but only to be side-lined at a later stage. Imagine having to speak to someone you started off together with and with whom you were at the same level all along through a manager! 

What makes it easy for these band leadership coups is there are always no written agreements and the Zimbabwean music clientele only recognizes the person behind the microphone. That is why band leaders always say, “As long as I am there, the band is there” when faced with a possible band split. In Zimbabwe, people do not really care if there is a new keyboardist or new bass player, as long as the lead vocalist is the same, especially if it is the one whose name is on the poster. They do not feel cheated. The painful truth is that band members do not really matter. They are just stepping stones that can be easily discarded and life still goes on.

The biggest beneficiary in the band system in Zimbabwe is the band leader so one cannot expect to enjoy a fulfilling career as a band member. Sometimes being a session musician can even be more rewarding if one is good at what they do. This is why most very good musicians refuse to join bands. A band member is not paid for attending rehearsals but a session musician can be paid for that and is treated with more respect than a permanent band member.

Private Performances Hire

Being hired to play for private functions or a big promoter organized gig is also another way of getting a good income. But how much you charge is very much dependent on how popular you are, more than how good you are, so it is very important for a band to find ways to push their name, first, one being to record music, market it well on radio, videos and market them via newspapers and social media, it also pushes your name if you have a good reputation for live performances and a high level of professionalism.

In Zimbabwe, the money that our biggest bands charge to play for a function is pocket change compared to the money that is charged by big artists in the western world. Although artists are usually secretive about how much they are paid, what I know is that there is no big artiste who charges over $10,000 for a promoter-organized big show or a private function. There is a huge gap between the money charged by big bands and the money charged by the next level of artists. Those with recorded music, who are popular but are not considered as big artists, usually do not exceed $500 for a private function. The ones who are not that big, or the ones who do not have any recorded music, usually do not charge over $300. We have to bear in mind that most of them do not own instruments and transport, so part of the money they charge is meant to cover those expenses too.

Big artists in the western world make a killing when it comes to private functions. Booking agency Edgy Entertainment released a list of the approximate 2017 per-show rates suggested by some artistes’ agents, with artists like Taylor Swift, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, James Taylor, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen, and Bon Jovi banking over $1 million per performance while acts like the Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West and Maroon 5 cash in money in excess of $400,000. But there are also negotiations so it also depends on what is agreed upon by both parties.

Are Live Shows Profitable?

Zimbabwe has been experiencing its worst-ever economic crisis since the early 2000s. Thousands of people lost their jobs and others left the country in search of better fortunes. This has had a far-reaching negative impact on the music industry. The situation became so bad that even free shows were flopping. Who would have money for transport to come to a gig on an empty stomach? If free shows were flopping, what then becomes of paid shows?

In the city centers, the average entrance fee for music shows is $5.It is only a small number of people who can afford it so music shows are not as lucrative as they are supposed to be or as used to be. On average band members are getting paid $15 to nothing per show, depending on the band’s popularity ratings. Except for those who play for the top five bands who are usually paid around $50 per show, it is very difficult to survive on being a band member alone. One has to have a day job or a side project to survive. It is every musician’s wish to survive on music alone, but with the state of Zimbabwe’s music scene, it is virtually impossible.

Usually, the city center gigs are reserved for the bigger bands whose music is on radio and public transport playlists, so the not-so-popular bands have to make do with rural and farming areas gigs where they charge from as little as $2 entrance fees.

Most bands in Zimbabwe only work with promoters when it is for big international gigs where they will be supporting acts to a big international artiste. All other gigs the band manager is the one who looks for venues to play, or he is contacted by venue owners where they mainly agree on three systems

1. Flat fee: This is when the venue owner pays the band a fixed amount of money and collects all the gate-takings and also benefits from the sales of beverages in the venue. The flat fee paid to a band not considered big usually does not exceed $300.
2. Gate takings: This is when the band is allowed to take all the gate takings whilst the venue benefits from the sale of beverages.
3. Gate and beverages percentages: This is when the band is allowed to have the gate takings but are paid a percentage of the beer sales.

International Shows

Due to the over-promotion of foreign music by Zimbabwean media there is always a huge demand for foreign artists, so promoters always bring foreign artists every now and then. Although artists of almost all popular genres in the world have come to Zimbabwe, reggae seems to dominate since the first Independence Day celebrations in 1980 when Bob Marley performed in Zimbabwe. Local bands are hired as supporting acts, but there is always a complaint concerning the difference between what the headline foreign artists are paid and how they are treated compared to local artists who often get a raw deal of the short end of the stick. A visiting foreign artiste can be paid $50,000 while local supporting acts are paid money that ranges from $50 to $5,000.

Ticket Prices for Concerts

One reason that contributes to the low-income Zimbabwean musicians get is the amount of money music fans are willing to pay for entertainment, for example, the money charged for concert tickets. It is true that the main factor that drives prices of any product is simply supply versus demand, but no matter how high the demand is, there are certain price ranges one cannot reach in a country like Zimbabwe, not because the demand is low, but because the money is not there, especially with the way the economy was performing of late.

The highest price a concert costs in Zimbabwe is $20 but the majority of gigs are charged at $5 or lower per person. Compare that to the $75 minimum fee charged by Western musicians at their concerts. Forbes Media and entertainment wrote that in 2017 the highest amount Adele was charging for a concert ticket was $395 per person at her concerts whilst Taylor Swift was charging $236. You can never dream of even charging $100 for a concert ticket in Zimbabwe. When Tarrus Riley performed in Zimbabwe in 2017 the highest ticket was pegged at $50 and the lowest-priced ticket was $20 the concert flopped badly besides Tarrus Riley’s popularity in Zimbabwe and also despite the fact that there were many supporting local artists.

On Thursday, October 26, 2017, I spoke to one of Tarrus Riley’s Zimbabwean promoters and he told me that for plane tickets alone, they paid $48 000 while the performance fee was $60 000. The per diems for the band were approximately $7000 and the Hospitality Rider included visiting resort areas like Victoria Falls, so because of that, he said they could not lower their ticket prices.

Over-Exposure and the Consequences

I think for a popular artiste to do too many gigs within the same circuit makes him overexposed and in the end, he loses value. If you play gigs in places around Harare, you are playing to the same crowd most of the time and that cheapens your brand. I remember one artiste during his prime who used to play one gig in Harare per month and every gig was full. The biggest indoor venue in Harare, the Harare International Conference Centre, with a seating capacity of 4 500 would be sold out and some people would get turned away. When he changed management, he started doing many gigs around Harare and attendance went down. If your brand is cheapened, the money you charge for hired events also goes down. An artist who knows how to positively starve their fans, who is not too available to the same crowd that most popular artists target, always gets it right. When hired, they charge even more than artists who carry the ‘man of the moment’ tag.

Money in Music Production

The music production side of the Zimbabwean industry had very few players before the digital age, so for the few companies that were involved, it was very rewarding. Piracy was not in the picture and music sales were good although incomparable to other countries. Music producers were employed by record companies and they had two streams of income — the salary and the commission from sales of albums they produced. The commission was not more than 3 percent but all yesteryear music producers attached to record companies lived comfortable lives and owned properties in leafy suburbs.

The digital age opened doors for everybody to come into the game. Running a studio became so cheap that the market got flooded. Piracy crept in and, as a result, the traditional big record companies could not survive as they had solely relied on music sales. All of them collapsed.

In other countries, piracy was dealt with in two ways. Either the pirates were arrested (this does not eliminate the problem but it controls it to some extent), so physical compact disc (CD) sales in most countries was just lowered by piracy, but not eliminated as in Zimbabwe’s case or music downloads proved to be a good replacement for physical CD sales worldwide. But the problem in Zimbabwe is that Zimbabwe is slow in catching up to new technological advancements. It is still a struggle to convince music consumers to download music because they still prefer physical CDs.

The digital age brought in the era of superstar producers, a system that is trendy worldwide, where the artiste is not very worried about the studio they are going to use but who the producer is. The man behind the machine is now more important than the machine but, because of the economic downturn, the benefits that are reaped by music producers everywhere else are not at the local Zimbabwean music producer’s disposal. First of all, there are no more music sales because of piracy and the non-functioning of the music streaming option, so the record labels system collapsed. The “industry” is now running on a cash basis. The artiste pays for everything, gets his Master^[2] and goes his way. As a result, the producers no longer have creative control and cannot expect royalties since there are no sales.

Like everywhere else in the world, there is also a huge influx of music studios everywhere. In Zimbabwean ghettos, every street has a studio. It is good in the sense that everyone is given an opportunity but for one to stand out is tricky. This also means the cake now has too many eaters so income becomes depleted for studio owners. As a result, studio owners charge very little to record. There are studios that charge as little as $5 per hour or $10 for a complete song.

Normally, a music producer also has to charge a producer’s fee, and an engineer’s fee depending on the agreement, but with the current state of the economy in Zimbabwe, many musicians cannot even afford to pay the very low studio rates. This means all the other charges have been scrapped and what remains are the studio charges, which are extremely low. The recording business is now operating in survival mode. It means therefore that, being a music producer and running a studio is just a hand-to-mouth business: that is if you get any business at all.

Session Work

Session work is done by a hired musician to contribute to a recording or a live performance but the musician is not a full-time band member. If one is a very good musician or singer, they can get a good number of session jobs that will be enough to sustain them

. There is a period of time I survived sorely on session work. I had a number of advantages.

• Of all instrumentalists, guitarists are very few in Zimbabwe even though the most popular styles of music in Zimbabwe are guitar-driven. Zimbabweans in general adore the guitar so much that at times if the band has no guitarist that might cause the audience to value the band less.
• Another advantage that I had was that I was fluent in many different styles of music so I could fit in almost any band.
• I was also very professional, always on time and a man of my word. A number of musicians end up losing opportunities because of unprofessionalism.
• I was very fast in catching melody lines given to me by the producers and artistes and quick in creating my own melody lines. I also recorded clean tracks so I did not waste studio time.

For these reasons, I got a lot of jobs. I remember there was one concert where I played for 13 bands on the same day because of my versatility.

Session Musicians’ Rates

At times it is more profitable for a good musician to be a session musician than a band member unless he is a member of a big band. Session musicians currently charge between $20 and$50 per song during recordings. For live gigs, the charge usually goes up to between $50 and $200 per show, depending on the popularity of the band that hired him or the nature of the event. If a session musician is very good at what they do, or if they are popular, professional, and easy to work with, they can make a living by “sessioning” alone.

Endorsements

Endorsement deals are agreements entered into by companies and popular figures who command a lot of recognition and respect. They use their influence, names, and image to advertise the agreed products. In return, the popular person would be rewarded according to the agreement signed. In some deals, the celebrity is given a huge pay-out or a salary over a period of time, and in the music world, the artiste will be allowed to receive a supply of an instrument he endorsed anytime he requires it and is required to use their instrument every time he makes a public appearance for the duration of that agreement in return for an agreed compensation. Most artists and sports personalities in developed countries make a lot of money from such deals to the extent that endorsement deals pay more than what they are famous for.

But in Zimbabwe that culture is just starting so we have very few endorsement deals signed, and obviously, the compensations are not that big, so it is another revenue stream that is still closed up. This is also due to the ailing economy.

From the book Poor & Famous chapter 17.

Author :Clive ”Mono” Mukundu, Edited by Philip Chidavaenzi & Bernadette Mari-Deve

Monolio publications, Harare, Zimbabwe 2018

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[1] I received this money from my ancestral spirits and I can do as I please with it.

[2] An original recording from which copies can be made.