Dear readers,

I(Emmanuel Mfon)  asked a question of interest on my personal facebook account and my goal was to actually read through and see the responses given by various artist about this.  Amongst the responses the most interesting write up was written by rapper Tino Foy and CEO of label ARTCHITECHT. He listed some reasonable and vital facts that are very true about the Cameroon music industry…..Here him out and feel free to leave a comment in the comment section below.

Tino Foy’s  Response:

1. The average Cameroonian cannot afford to travel to Buea from Douala (or from Douala to Yaounde) and vice versa for a concert, stay in a hotel, feed him/herself for a day and go back home once every month. Bref, Cameroonians are unemployed hence broke. As a result, the most attended concerts are free concerts where sponsors foot the organization and artists bills and give the public free or ultra low cost entrance.

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done here because it is a systemic problem. We are talking about killing unemployment, improving transportation and medical services etc.

2. The Cameroonian culture is the embodiment of the phrase ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’ Need not expatiate.

What can be done is what I try to do every time I write and what bloggers should be doing, adding value to our own. Showing we are better than what we think we are and emphasizing the need for us to become better compatriots; the kind of education that is left out of school curricula, the most important education a human should get, a moral and psychological schooling.

3. Cameroonian artists are broke and not business savvy relying on managers who are equally broke and not business savvy. Basically, there are no sources of capital and investors who have made money because of connections and corruption are not creative enough to see how lucrative the music industry can be if exploited appropriately.

Somebody will get it right one day but the people with the kind of money to make a big impact are out of touch with this industry, so for now, we continue to inch up slowly.

4. Too many outlets with very little focus. Basically everyone wants to be a boss of something. Owning your own thing is more important that doing the right thing. For example there are at least 15 bloggers who can wield much more power under one platform by consolidating their resources. Just like the 1 million “Ankara ontop Tee” Jimmy Choo’s we have around. I bring in Fashion designers because together with the artists, they can flip the script.

I already said what can be done. The problem is who has the kind of leadership to do it when all the people who can do it are busy trying to be worshipped instead of serving.

5. Everybody will read this and agree but nothing will change because were are a country of rhetoric. Like people say in the books, Cameroon is Dubai but on the ground, every Cameroonian wants to go and work in Dubai no matter the temperature.

P.S

If you are going to ask me what I am doing, show me you can analyze/write this better than I do then I’ll leave it up to you. -There is a reason your physics teacher is not a pilot. I don’t even want to be doing this for other dumb assess to tell me how I need to go and focus on my music instead of posting on facebook.

Unfortunately, with Cameroonians, you have to leave a P.S like this one to ward off their cynicism.

#levelup #dobetter

 

What are your thoughts?