Key benefits of the RSFAM project for musicians
The Revenue Streams for African Musicians (RSFAM) research project is the Music In Africa Foundation’s heightened effort to provide African music professionals with revenue stream statistics based on big-data analysis of the music industry. The pilot phase of the project is under way in South Africa and the results will be disseminated from 2021.
Below are some of the key benefits of the RSFAM project for African musicians:
Reliable statistics and information
The African music sector continues to be undermined by a serious lack of reliable statistics and data that can inform better strategies and policies. The sector is largely based on global trends and notions that may be largely suited for the international music market. Through the RSFAM project, African music professionals, policymakers and cultural organisations will have access to objective information about the revenue streams available in their market, starting with the pilot phase in South Africa. This will help them to make informed decisions and strategise for the demands of the local markets they operate in.
Education drives
Through the RSFAM project, the Music In Africa Foundation will create educational content and introduce workshops where music practitioners will be able to assimilate the new knowledge presented to them with a view to tap into diversified revenue streams in their markets. Much of this knowledge content will be published and disseminated for free on a dedicated portal.
Free digital tools
The Foundation is developing a central digital web platform where all revenue streams findings will be accessible. This platform will elucidate all the revenue streams that are researched and analysed, and help musicians locate partners and new streams easily and at no cost. It will include digital mapping and a framework of the distinctive revenue streams in which African musicians generate more revenue, including comprehensive descriptions, datasets, info graphics, tips and other useful information.
Policy advocacy
Building on the Music In Africa Foundation’s wide-reaching network on the continent, the RSFAM project will have significant policy implications, and will conduct informed advocacy aimed at shaping policies and regulatory frameworks that meet the challenges of the African music industry in a changing digital age. This process will involve the establishment of an inclusive working group of officials responsible for policymaking, the creative economy, culture, intellectual property, trade, development, technology and innovation. The group will identify policies that have an impeding effect on earning opportunities in the sector, in order to meet the challenges brought about by the digital age. The RSFAM project and its operatives will also facilitate engagements between practitioners to negotiate improvements or the revision of inefficient policies, trade and investment agreements, in the form of workshops, seminars, round-table discussions and other public-engaging events for the purpose of educating and encouraging wide participation in policy advocacy.
For updates, partnership opportunities and new research findings, visit the RSFAM website.
The Music In Africa Revenue Streams for African Musicians project is supported by UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity in the framework of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the Siemens Cents4Sense programme, Goethe-Institut, the National Arts Council of South Africa and Kaya FM.
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