For the love of music, arts
Five79 Promotions is an event management company specialising in event management, artist and product promotion, online promotion, marketing consultancy and hiring out sound and light equipment. Since its formation in 2019, the company has worked with a number of artists and partnered entertainment firms such as Urban Music People, Fashion For Change, Entertainers Promotions. The company is expanding its business scope and they will soon be launching their official website. Our Staff Reporter BRIAN ITAI, caught up with the company’s executive director Wisdom Phanga. Excerpts:
Q
: What is the profile and background of Five79 Promotions?
A
: We are an entertainment promotional company which was formed in 2018. We are involved in organising several music events in partnership with different event organisers. We have worked with Urban Music Party (UMP) during their 2018 awards event and we have also partnered with Entertainers Promotions whom we are also working with in this weekend’s Winter White Party.
Q
: What does the name Five79 stand for?
A
: The name is derived from a Bible verse. Five stands for the fifth book of the Bible, 7 is the chapter and 9 is the verse. So in full it is Deuteronomy 7 verse 9.
Q
: What are the objectives of the establishment?
A
: Through the experience that I have gathered during my involvement in the art industry over the years I thought I needed to create a platform that would facilitate for the promotion of raw talent. We realise that art is a business so our idea is to create a channel where these creatives can earn money from their talent.
Q
: Since the formation in 2018, what would you term as your biggest milestones?
A
: Though our profile shows that we do a lot of things but our priority is on the promotion of local arts. So the partnerships we have made with some of the country’s biggest names in the entertainment industry have remained dear to us. We have also established a website which will be in full operation by August.
Q
: What is the website all about?
A
: Our intention is to have artists upload their songs so that listeners can download stream. Our team is currently uploading all the necessary data as we await its full launch.
Q
: How crucial is the website to your business portfolio?
A
: We need to do a lot of marketing for our products by making it active and known so that we can have companies to advertise on it. That is the only way we can make something out of it since at the end of the day we need resources to pay the youth who we are working with.
Q
: Do you have full time employees? If yes, how many are they?
A
: At the moment we only have three full time employees. But every now and then we engage temporary employees when the need arises.
Q
: Do you have some artists that are permanently signed under your stable?
A
: Not yet. We work with different artists by organising events on their behalf. But having some artists signed with us permanently is something we are considering and it may happen soon. We want to work with every artist who is available and ready to work with us. When they release a song or an album we can have them on board by promoting their product to the right audience. We may also have to consider placing special interest in helping female artists in the near future to create a balance in the art industry including music.
Q
: When you are going into an agreement with an artist, what sort of qualities do you look for because understandably there are so many upcoming artists who are dying for such an opportunity.
A
: We look at those who have the potential, with the right dedication and above all we are also interested in the type of content that one is bringing out to the masses.
Q
: What kind of projects are you focusing on at the moment as a company?
A
: At the moment most of our attention and energy has been directed towards the website project. Once we are done with that then we plan to have a number of events nationwide and also help a number of individual artists in their projects. n
