Solve your problem

I don't encourage moaning about your problems, but today I'll make an exception. I want you to look at your creative career and I want you to moan about everything that you don't like about your industry. Over and above just moaning, I want you to do it with a paper and pen in front of you (humor me). Write everything that you moan about down on this piece of paper. If you struggle to come up with a long list of problems then either you're already famous or your heart isn't in your craft. If you want to, invite a friend over and moan together.

Off the top of my head I can already think of a few problems in the music industry in South Africa. I moaned and this is what I came up with:

• large amounts of copying of sound
• expensive marketing channels
• social media is difficult to use to one's advantage
• difficult to get radio royalties
• studio time and services are expensive
• not enough information specific to the South African music industry available online

Once you have your list of problems, I want you to make headings and slowly start to problem solve relating all the topics to your career. Once you've done this you essentially have the answers to a lot of the things that are holding you back from being a success. Also, if you've moaned about it then chances are someone else has too and if you solve this problem for yourself you might be able to package it and sell it to the next person.

Here are some of the solutions I've come up with for my problems.

• so as to not sound the same as everyone when I produce, I spend almost zero time on music channels or commercial radio. I check to see who is trending and I check their work out if I want to. This stops me from jumping on trends that will make me sound the same as everyone else.

• expensive marketing channels and misunderstanding social media is a big problem. We misunderstand it therefore we don't use it as much. I dedicated quite a bit of time learning how Facebook works and I realised that I was only getting 1000 views on my posts whereas I had 14K likes on my page. It's no secret that Facebook does this so that your timeline makes more sense and you aren't bombarded with info but it sucks because you want all your fans to see what you do. This is why I use Facebook's little sister, WhatsApp, so much. I ask people to add me so that I can add them to my permission-based broadcast lists and I send out information to them. This allows me to build relationships with people and people are able to see and interact with my whatsapp statuses. As we talk, we come up with solutions to more problems and sometimes this leads to me selling a beat or doing some production for that person. This has been a revelation for me because if I have 1000 people who have opted in, I know that when I hit send on that broadcast then 1000 people will receive it. I know this won't last forever, but I'm taking advantage of it now.

• information is difficult to come by and this is why I offer it. I give people value as often as possible even if it's a question on registration of music and I hope that one day that person will either reciprocate or they'll support my business. I'm happy to say that this is exactly what's happening. I've built trust and I know that this trust is the only thing that ensures some artists come to me and don't go to the next music producer just because they're better known than me.

• studio time is expensive and the atmosphere isn't always great. Engineers can be cold people especially after the 100th take of a verse and I strive to make sure my prices remain below the norm and that my work is very polished. I also try to always offer support where I can.

Through solving some of my problems I've been able to build a business that supports me financially and contributes to the music industry. As musicians, I believe that if you have a problem that you've identified then you can always solve it provided you spot that it's a problem that YOU want to fix and you aren't waiting for someone else to do it. There aren't enough platforms for artists to showcase their work. What are you doing about it? Are you building up your own platform whether it be your own social pages or are you building a website that has a bit of power that helps other artists get their work out there? Whatever you do, complaining without taking any action is probably the worst thing you can do.

There will always be problems and issues in your industry, but if you can identify some and work on a few ideas you might just find yourself in a great position to succeed.

SB