15 Oct 2015

Gaborone will on October 27-29 play host to Botswana's inaugural International Music Conference which will be held at the National Youth Council Multipurpose Youth Centre.

The Botswana International Music Conference (BIMC) on its first year of inception is being sponsored by the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture (MYSC) and aims to broaden the knowledge of music among practitioners, users and stakeholders by bringing world class experts from across the world and locally to engage each other on ways of enhancing the music industry.

The international conference billed to be the premier event for improving music content and quality in Botswana is the brainchild of Seabelo Modibe, a renowned local music promoter.

Modibe, who is also the conference head organiser revealed in an interview that after realising that there were depleted music structures and lack of capacity building of upcoming artists locally who normally struggle to get the best advice and end up lost while chasing their dream to stardom, he introduced the conference to provide access to information and services to artists from a wide variety of relevant stakeholders.

He said the main speaker at the event will be Jonathan Shaw, head music lecturer at Wits University in South Africa. 

Professor Shaw, a music expert, will present on music industry structures, value chain and how the Botswana government and private sector could create employment through the music industry and unlimitedly utilise music and other artistic talents to diversify the economy.

Modibe has also revealed that the second speaker will be Dodo Monamodi, chairperson of the Association of Independent Record Companies in South Africa (AIRCO). AIRCO represents various labels such Kalawa Jazzmee, Ghetto Ruff, CashTime, TS Records, Electromode and all independent South African music record labels.

Monamodi is expected to bring with him a team of three experts who will also do various presentations on music distribution, video royalties in South Africa, needle time and also advice aspiring record company owners on the do's and don'ts of the industry.

Some of the speakers of the event will include  Sphe Mbhele, project manager at Kwazulu Natal (KZN) Music Imbizo among others. The conference is free of charge for all and registration to attend the event is ongoing.  

Companies and organizations are invited to take part in the event as sponsors and strategic partners.

“Our focus this year is mainly on content and how one can amass content and make content work for artistes. We will look at all spheres of the industry and current trends worldwide,”Modibe said.  

He said the event, which will be an annual occasion will promote the highest quality in the music industry bringing together industry, government and academic interest in an effort to improve the state of music. Ends