Streams of Income with Mutsai Musa

The Point Black Podcast

Mutsai Musa has been running the creative incubator, Quiet Riot Media for 15 years. Quiet Riot Media has consulted for both international artists and large entertainment companies on intellectual property and copyright management, paying attention to protecting income streams and generating long-term revenue for creative projects. Recent clients include Apple Music Africa, Universal Music Publishing Group Africa, Sony Music Africa, Interscope Records (USA), Platoon Africa, LVRN Records (USA). In our chat with Mutsai, we discussed the various ways Zimbabwean artists can earn revenue as artists and what they can do to increase their earning potential. Summary of Earning Channels 1. Mechanical Royalties (Sales) 2. Publishing Royalties 3. Merchandise 4. Live Show Income Workshop Summary 4:35 How artists can be considered for Digital Service Provider Playlists Playlisting is the new radio and is a key part of getting your music discovered Your distributor plays a key part in getting playlisting Use UGC social media content platforms to promote your work Make sure your song is on radio 10:04 How to pitch yourself and your music Have an EPK and marketing plan ready before you release a song That EPK should clearly state your DNA as an artist in 1 page WHO you are. WHERE you are going. WHAT information and data about you is available. 13:25 How to pitch yourself to festivals 14:11 The types of revenue available to artists Maximise show revenue when it is available Look into publishing as early as possible 23:11 How revenue is generated 26:06 The importance of working with others and building a team “Working alone is not beneficial. Would you rather have 100% of $10 or 50% of $100” Learn the fundamentals of the business 34:10 How to approach brand endorsements To get a brand endorsement you have to add value to the brand in question Brand endorsements are not a viable source of long-term revenue because brands are in business to sell products and not support artists 37:32 How to prepare your brand to become one that earns revenue Make yourself and your music easy to find. (Search Engine Optimisation) Website, Biography and press pics Market and promote yourself 41:30 The questions you need to ask a potential partner before you work with them Who have you worked with before? What do you know about the following; Distribution Publishing Sync Licensing Marketing Artist Management 43:40 How to prepare marketing and promotion budgets 49:50 TikTok presents the biggest opportunity for artists For reference here is the video from VOX that tracks the importance of TikTok