The Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) invites all music creators operating in South Africa to participate in the recently launched nationwide Revenue Streams for African Musicians (RSFAM) project. 

A multifaceted initiative aimed at guiding African music professionals to earn more income from their works, the project has three key participation phases:

1. Participating in a survey – this is a critical process to understand the state of the revenue streams and each creators’ key needs.
2. Receiving free training, reports, statistics, content and practical tools on revenue streams.
3. Participating in lobbying activities in the interest of musicians (policy work).

This call is for all creators to participate in the survey, which can be accessed here.

During the survey phase, the MIAF will collect and analyse data on the earning trends of music professionals across the nine provinces of South Africa. Input from working musicians will help the MIAF and its partners to develop tools, guides and capacity-building programmes to empower musicians with workable knowledge, and advocate for the development of relevant legislation to support the music industry.

How will musicians benefit from the RSFAM project? 

The online and on-the-ground research will collect and analyse big data on the earning trends of music professionals and deduce the findings into definitive revenue models that work for musicians in different locations in South Africa, and provide training, educational content and digital tools related to the identified models. A key part of this initiative is lobbying: the MIAF will appoint a policy committee to advocate for the improvement of relevant legislation complementary to the revenue streams.

Musicians will be able to access reports and practical tools, and tap into insights that are specific to the revenue streams across regions, practices and genres. Musicians will benefit from first-hand advice and optimise their earnings as well as access tools to navigate the industry, attend tailored training workshops, access reports from the data collected, and take advantage of upskilling opportunities via free digital educational content.

“The music industry is changing at an alarming rate,” MIAF director Eddie Hatitye says. “Musicians often need support to fully understand the industry and make the right decisions. Participating in this initiative will unlock some vital opportunities for creators in South Africa. We hope that it will also facilitate a deeper understanding of the key issues that need to be addressed at policy level.” 

How to participate in the survey

• Complete the online survey here. 
• We also have field researchers across the nine provinces. If you would rather have us visit/call you and assist you in completing the survey, please let us know here(link is external).

Note: All music creators are welcome to participate. The term ‘music creator’ is broadly used to refer to anyone who is involved in the creation of music in their individual capacity (from songwriter to producer, performer, etc.).

For more information, contact Ms Jannike Bergh at jannike@musicinafrica.net(link sends e-mail) (general queries) and Mr Kalin Pashaliev at kalin@musicinafrica.net(link sends e-mail)(media queries). 

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About the Music In Africa Foundation 

The MIAF is a pan-African, non-profit organisation based in Rosebank, Johannesburg, with satellite offices in East, West and Central Africa. The MIAF’s mission is to support the African music sector through promoting knowledge exchange and creating opportunities and capacity for music professionals. We do this in two ways: digitally via the Music In Africa website (www.musicinafrica.net) and offline through training programmes, artist mobility programmes, workshops, concerts, lobbying, conferences and other related initiatives.

Project partners

The Music In Africa Revenue Streams for African Musicians project is supported by UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity in the framework of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the Siemens Cents4Sense programme, Goethe-Institut, the National Arts Council of South Africa and Kaya FM. 

source: musicinafrica.net