Maxy called on government to help develop industry

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Local artists called on the government to establish a department under the Ministry of Arts and Culture to focus on developing the creative industry.

Speaking during the launch of the payment of royalties by the Copyrights Society of Botswana (COSBOTS) early this week, cultural music trendsetter Olebile 'Maxy' Sedumedi said the government has to appreciate the creativity of Batswana more especially the music industry. Maxy said even though the country has  lot of talented young people, there is still a lot to be done to ensure that they deliver quality work of international standards.  She said that artists alone couldn't develop and produce good work worth selling abroad as they lack certain skills. Maxy said the proposed department could help nature artists and develop them into professionals able to deal with different aspects of the music business including behaviour, quality of work produced, management, copyright and others.

She said that if local artists had qualified management, they would not be exploited. Maxy also implored the government to make laws that would protect the artists to avoid these exploitations.  Maxy said that a lot of local artists have been exploited by records companies even in the neighbouring countries. Speaking from personal experience, Maxy said that as a young artist she was excited to have a record deal in South Africa, but was exploited as she did not sign any agreement papers and had no idea of which route to take. Lack of corporate sponsorship and guidance on how artists should  produce good music and brand themselves is also a great concern.

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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