“Lack of professionalism and poor marketing”. That according to an event organizer and entertainment pundit is the problem of musicians in Kumasi.
Ernest Opoku who works with yfm is unhappy about how artistes in the Ashanti region remain confined to the region.
“Most of the talents we have here believe music is all about going to the studio to record. However, they forget that when you bake bread, it doesn’t sell itself. Even before you bake, you have to know what kind of bread people like the most and how you will sell it. So if people like sugar bread, you can decide to make yours creamy sugar so someone can say I’m buying sugar bread and I want one that’s creamy”, he explained.
He is sad that many musicians in the Ashanti region where he lives do not take music as a career and hence do not employ qualified people to manage, council and guide their career.
Should Ashanti musicians move to Accra in order to make it?
He disagrees with the notion that musicians have to relocate to Accra in order to be successful in their careers.
He explains that inasmuch as he agrees there’s a lot of exposure to be had in Accra, the industry transcends just exposure. He believes you can be out of Accra and make it with impeccable talent, connections and marketing.
“The “one corner” man didn’t go to Accra to make it. It was talent and connections (exposure) but he failed to brand himself well which will affect him in the future and we might not hear another hit track from him again but the point is he didn’t go to Accra to make his song hit”.