DISTRIBUTION STILL CHALLENGE - 3T

MBABANE – Artist manager Sibusiso ‘3T’ Simelane says distribution is still a challenge that hampers the local industry.

Simelane, also known as ‘3T’, is a local artist manager who hails from Upscale Live, which is a record label housing musicians such as Young Zesh, Lyrikal Busta, and Sean Cast HQ. Simelane has guided these musicians to reach greater heights in their careers, and they successfully released a song that ultimately became an anthem in the country titled ‘KaKhoza’.
During the Arts Round Table, which was held as part of the recent MTN Bushfire Festival, Simelane shared that the local industry remains stagnant due to the struggle to distribute music.

struggle

He said: “There are several things that slow down our industry, and the biggest struggle is distribution. In fighting the problem of distribution, I ensure that we release good quality music as Upscale Live. I have an ear for sound; I can tell if the sound is not good enough. I have a background in sound engineering; I actually studied for it. This helped me realise that good quality music can be used to conquer the world. Simelane went on to say that, the language is not yet exploited. “I got to realise that if we have better distribution channels, that would be our first vehicle to the world; hence, we established the record label ‘Upscale Live’ to use it in approaching distribution companies. Fortunately, one came on board, and it is the ‘Orchard’, and when they came through, I knew that we have everything we need now,” Simelane said.

He went on to share how the music distribution company Orchard helps them as a local record label. “Through Orchard, we are able to distribute our music online without paying anyone, as before we had to pay to get our music online. Being a local promoter is not an easy thing, not because they don’t want to book you, but because there is no budget. Our space doesn’t have that much revenue circulating. We are also currently working on a show, which we will use to showcase our music. We plan to have an international act so that local people can attend the show and we can get to give them a taste of our music,” Simelane said.

“Seventy per cent of our population is less privileged; there are only 30 per cent of those who are privileged, and these ones have access to WiFi, they stream online, and all that, but that much access is into international music more than our local music. This is because our music is not that popular online because we lack distribution. International music is now circulating in our space more than anything,” Simelane added.

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