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LUTFO TO ENSURE ALL ARTISTS HAVE MANAGERS

25/07/2014 05:11:00 BY NHLANHLA MATHUNJWA

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MBABANE – SWAMA has since stopped its artists from negotiating performance fees on their personal capacity.
SWAMA stands for Swaziland Music and Arts Association.

The association is under the leadership of former Minister Lutfo Dlamini.
Apart from stopping all its members from negotiating performance fees on their own, all artist under the association have been told to submit the names of their managers.
If an artist does not have a manager, SWAMA will take the responsibility of managing that artist on its own.

Potential

These are some of the things, which Dlamini has told the artists to do with immediate effect.
The former minister said the executive committee had noted that local artists have the potential of becoming one of the best artists around the world but because of the fact that, things were not done professionally, they were forced to find a way that would see the industry being professionalised.

“When you look at all successful artists, you discover that they all have managers. It is the same thing that needs to happen with local artists. An artist cannot negotiate a performance fee on his or her own. One needs to have a manager. Most artists have been negotiating on their own something that has to come to an end,” he said.

Negotiations

Dlamini said as from now on, they do not expect any of their members to make any negotiations on their own.
“If the artist is a SWAMA member, he or she has to stick to these rules and regulations of the association. Among these rules is for the artists not to negotiate any performance fee and also have a manager who will act on the artist’s behalf,” he said.
Dlamini said while still in the office, he will try to make sure that the industry is professionalised.

“As an association, we will address the needs of the artists. If any artist has a problem, we will make sure that we act on his or her behalf to make sure that everything is facilitated,” he said.
He said they will soon be calling artists to a meeting where they would be expected to express their views on the improvements they want to see within the association,” he said.