Showbiz Correspondent
A MIDLANDS gospel music seminar will be held today to educate artistes on ways to distribute their music, market and promote it as well as organise successful gospel shows.
The seminar taking place at GM Records (NetOne building) in Gweru is expected to start at 9AM.
Organised by Zingoma Trust, it will be held for free and will run under the theme “Uniting for a common cause”.
In a statement, Falton Bheme, the director of Zingoma Trust, said they wanted to help musicians produce quality songs in order to better their livelihoods.
“It’s important to note the emerging of uncountable number of recording studios scattered all over the country as a welcome development, but quality production has not been wholly achieved.
“The seminar will thus cover issues from quality music, selection of producers and sound experts down to music arrangement so as to obtain quality production,” said Bheme.
He said another predicament facing gospel musicians was revenue to sustain their work and livelihood.
“In the past, artistes’ main source of revenue has been music sales, shows and to a lesser extent royalties from airplay. However, music piracy and technological developments have greatly affected music sales.
“The seminar will address alternative channels of music distribution and sales so that artistes salvage something from their efforts,” said Bheme.
“The second main source of income for musicians are live shows, these shows are also collapsing. Day in day out, shows are flopping and resulting in few music concerts and festivals. While other socio-economic factors are also impacting on music shows, poor show management and promotion is the chief actor. The presentation on organising successful shows will provide solutions to these challenges.”