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Home / Industry Loop - Swartbaster... nie so nie boeta

Industry Loop - Swartbaster... nie so nie boeta

2022-04-22  NSK

Industry Loop - Swartbaster... nie so nie boeta

I find Swartbaster’s recent comments about him and Uno Boy not getting booked by “Kavango” promoters in their home region because of one or other reason, rather unfortunate. I say unfortunate, because you’d think an experienced campaigner like Swartbaster would understand how the market and branding works. You’d think an experienced campaigner like Swartbaster, and by extension Uno Boy, would understand the concept of relevance.

When was the last time you actually heard a Swartbaster or an Uno Boy song? When was the last time you actually heard Swartbaster or Uno Boy featuring in anything newsworthy? The last time Swartbaster released visuals was 14 February, and the song (at the time of going to print) had under 200 views. Not 200 000... 200 views. 

The song before that one was released on 7 January 2020, which to date has under 3 200 views.

 The latest visuals I could find of Uno Boy dates back two years. ‘Kangumbe’ has about 4 000 views. 

Why am I sharing these? I share not because I hate Swartbaster or Uno Boy. I share this because maybe, just maybe, no one has the guts to tell Swartbaster or Uno Boy that one needs to be relevant to get bookings. The name of the game is relevance! 

This has nothing to do with tribal pride or regional pride or whatever Swartbaster wanted to put it down to. 

Are you relevant? Has your brand evolved with the current generation of music lovers? Are you marketing your brand to the current buying power? Does your brand have some sort of buzz around it? Does your brand still excite the market? 

Swartbaster, and by extension Uno Boy, cannot sit there and accuse promoters in his home region of tribal bias when these promoters played an important role in the rise of brands like TKB, M.I.G, M-GEE, Elia da Vincii and other so-called brands from the Kavango regions. 

Why is it that you never see so-called brands like Gazza, King Tee Dee, Sunny Boy, Dixon and others complain about not getting booked? Because these brands understand that relevance is key. These brands understand that instead of trying to guilt-trip people, one needs to fine-tune your music, fine-tune your image, and fine-tune your marketing every single year to ride with what’s new. No one is entitled to a gig. 

No one should sit there and say because I am from what region or tribe, I need to get the booking. If you just are not popping, then you are just not popping. 

There’s nothing wrong with that. That just provides you with an exciting opportunity to go back to the drawing board. Swartbaster, and by extension Uno Boy and any other artist who feels aggrieved for not getting bookings, just need to take a hard look at themselves, answer some tough questions and prove us wrong that they still got it. 

Complaining on Facebook won’t help much because no one cares really!   

 

Until the next Loop, we say #GMTM  * Need an MC? I do not post naked pictures or have 100k followers but after 10 years of MCeeing, I think I can do the job. Contact me for a quote at naobebsekind@gmail.com


2022-04-22  NSK

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