Sitting on gold? 

The trend among most showbiz stars globally is that they ride on the popularity of their brands to establish different businesses outside their art.

These artists build business empires that become even bigger than their artistic facets. Subsequently, their financial base is solidified beyond imagination. Personalities such as USA rapper Sean Combs alias P Diddy as well as South African DJ Tira and DJ Zinhle are some of the stars who have grown their enterprise beyond the music domain.

But the status quo here in Malawi is different. There are few artists who have dared to invest outside their art. A good number have tried to spread the potential of their brands, but the returns have been dismal.

In 2019, hip-hop artist Tay Grin introduced a fizzy drink on the local market called Chipapapa. Unfortunately, the commodity did not last long on the market and the musician cited the advent of the Covid-19 as the biggest undoing of the venture.

Poet Q Malewezi also came on the market with his brand of wine called Poet’s Ink in 2020, but after so much pomp and fanfare, the wine silently disappeared faded into oblivion.

He said: “At the moment, we are reworking a couple of things. Later in the year, we will get back to the operations. We hit a couple of snags, especially during the Covid-19 period.”

Four or so years ago, musician Faith Mussa introduced a clothing line on the local market. That venture too could not be sustained.

Disbanded music outfit Bantu Kamuladzi also came with its Khalidwe Wear, but like many others, it didn’t last too.   

The artists cite limitations within the industry as factors  preventing them from achieving  growth.

Rapper Gwamba attempted to register his own drink called Better Energy Drink.

According to the artist, the drink was never introduced on the market because of some copyright issues. He said he is  working on another business venture whose details will be announced in due course.

However, the rapper said financial returns in the local music industry do not allow artists to make serious investments that they can lean on.

“Almost every artist who has money has it from another source and not art. Local promoters pay peanuts to artists and fans love to download music for free. It is a bit harsh to say Malawian artists don’t invest. We are trying,” he said.

The Zidzakhala Better creator said lack of corporate support has further crippled the industry as artists are left to fend for themselves. He said Malawi needs to undergo a serious mindset change.

But all is not lost as there is one odd case of rapper Hayze Engola who rolled out his clothing brand, KNQR in 2019. In December last year, Hayze Engola added a fragrance collection, Mafioso, to his business franchise.

In February this year, he added yet another product to his brand when he opened an online music selling platform called Payrope.

“I believe that if you are in the industry, you need to tell the difference between being a musician and in the music business. Musicians need to be sensitised to issues of music business and how to operate their brand,” he said.

Hayze Engola, real name Sindiso Msungama, said for one to successfully venture into business, it requires a lot of research to know certain things and to have people who are involved with your brand and music business.

He said: “Most artists don’t know the business aspect of it. All they know is go into the studio, record music, release it and get booked for shows. But there is a lot more that they need to get accustomed to and be aware of the business side of things.”

The singer and composer said opportunities lie in networking as it allows one to associate with people from other professions.

“People from the corporate world are the ones with keys to unlock our doors. Sometimes the corporate world doesn’t relate to us because we don’t speak their language. It is something that we need to learn and you can only do that through understanding their language,” he said.