Red Bull Studio’s – CTEMF buildup – Day 1 highlights.

The first day of the CTEMF (Cape Town Electronic Music Festival), workshop held at Red Bull studios, was primarily focused on the music industry.  First on the coach was  Hilton “Roach” Roth  (African Dope / Gigham), Hagar Graiser  (Jump Media / Cape MIC) and Maximillian Kaizen  (Creative Commons South Africa). Having the opportunity to have 3 such knowledgeable and open speakers covering topic’s from publishing, performance rights, music copy right and creative commons opened up great debates and dialogue. With a close spotlight on SAMRO which is South Africa’s only music royalties collection agency, the artists and students had their say, with some negative and positive results beings discussed and analyzed by the 3 experts.

“Roach” has a wealth experience in the Cape Town Electronics music industry covering a 20-year history and is an expert in modern music publishing and marketing. Reflecting on his time as a co-owner of African Dope Records with some great methods for local artists to create income over and above their albums and EP releases. Hagar also touched on the concepts of merchandise and the fact that artists need to focus more on the design element of this lucrative income base.  Modern music fans are not easy to impress and by making your merchandise more enticing and innovative. A simple t-shirt with your name will not be attractive but on the same hand and over elaborate concept will be expensive and hard to move at your gigs.

Hagar also gave an insight into the Cape MIC (Music Industry Commision) who is an organisation dedicated to assisting local artists with anything from simple advise on concepts design to filling in of complex and some what obscure contacts or collection agency forms. To find out more about this what they can do for you as and industry player check out their website www.capemic.co.za. Hagar encouraged all involved in Cape Town music industry to contact them directly, this covers not only producers and artists but also promoters and managers alike.

“Max” was very passionately focused on the needs for artists and producers to better understand the ever-changing concepts of copy right in modern digital world. Creative musicians and performers have more control over their copyright than ever before in the music industry, which can be securely provided by the aspects offered by Creative Commons. So what is Creative Commons? This concept provides free tools, which allows artists decide the types of rights they would allow on their work. So instead of using the CC  logo for “All Rights Reserved” to “Some Rights Reserved”. Check out their website at www.creativecommonsza.org.

To end off the day all were treated to house music DJ, producer and record label owner Black Coffee. This versatile industry legend has provided a platform other emerging artists with his record label Soulistic  Music. Him and his manager Amaru da Costa enlightened the packed out crown with some great stories of how they became involved with the music industry, and what plans they have for the future. It was amazing to hear the simple facts of how Amaru become Black Coffee’s manager by meeting on Facebook. I was most impressed by their down to earth approach and that they both spoke of how they are still constantly learning and evolving day by day. This is a great approach that all industry players need to keep in the back of their mind in the complex industry we find ourselves. Find out more and get involved with the DJ Black Coffee foundation. For more information on Soulistic Music check out www. soulisticmusic.com

The students really seemed to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere set by Red Bull studios and the Industry players on the coach. Stay tuned for the highlights of Day 2.

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