Artists urged to be professional

Tumelo Mouwane | Thursday August 10, 2017 15:34

Speaking during a workshop dubbed ‘Seipone Sa Modiragatsi’, intended to enlighten local artists on the importance of professionalising the business aspect of the entertainment industry, chief facilitator Thatayaone Namane said local artists must do away with verbal agreements and consider contractual ones.

“If as local artists we continue to do things the way we do them now, we are going to remain stuck in one place forever. We must ditch the old tradition of offering our services without legally binding documents. Let’s learn to enter into contractual agreements, which have been negotiated and agreed.

“A contract will save you in future or before the courts of law in case of any disagreements. They are very important because the reality on the ground is that people exploit artists because of their unprofessionalism,” he said.

Namane further said contracts should not only be encouraged between producers and artists but also between artists and their employees such as dancers or vocalists.

“These contracts must not only be extended to producers and artists. Employees in an entertainment organisation must also have contracts between them and their employer or group leader or owner. For example, dancers are in most cases normally exploited because they just perform sometimes without even knowing how much they are going to be paid. I want people to take this thing seriously because it’s high time we treat entertainment as a business that can sustain us,” Namane said.

Quizzed on why local artists, especially upcoming ones do not consider professionalism in the entertainment industry, one of the local artists at the workshop, Goitsemodimo Maase said more education is needed to enrich local artists about the importance of being professional.

“I think we are still growing as a country when it comes to the entertainment industry. I believe that with years, we will have improved and doing things the right way. We will be going to perform at shows having been paid upfront, having contracts. As the pioneers in the industry I think it’s also high time we also consider doing things more professionally than ever before for us to be taken seriously.

“We need to take contracts seriously and for most of artists to achieve that they need more education,” Maase said.