I came back from Cologne last Sunday, from the Migrants Music Manifesto meeting and at the end of August I was in Kavala, Greece, for the Cosmopolis Festival. So I feel that things are more or less coming back to normality.

This very afternoon I found out that one of Madrid’s main cultural centres, the Conde Duque, today recovers its usual capacity, 100%. Masks are still obligatory, but it is a very significant step. In Spain, after a somewhat slow start, vaccination soon accelerated and now 76% of the population is fully vaccinated. I hope you’ll enjoy this edition, that features Delicious Tunes through an interview with Stephanie Schumann as well as some more news and usual sections. NOTE: don’t miss the news from Transglobal World Music Chart and from the European Folk Network!!!

Do you want to share any useful experience you have had during this difficult time or another content relevant for our community of the world musics? Let me know.

Araceli Tzigane | info@mundimapa.com | +34 676 30 28 82 
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The debate started on Friday, with the introduction of some of the partners of the project MMM. In the first picture, from left to right, Peter Van Rompaey from Muziekpublique, who will be our protagonist in the next edition, Graciela Murga, from ENCC, the moderator and presenter of the event Sarah Bergh, Patrick Duval from Rocher de Palmer and Birgit Ellinghaus from alba Kultur, the general director of the project MMM.

One of the round tables was about the networks, which corresponds to the picture in the middle. In the photo we have, from left to right, Gabriel Riquelme, from Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld, Sonja Heimann, from the World Music Forum Netherlands, the moderator Simone Dudt, from the European Music Council, David Francis, from the European Folk Network, Pierre-Henri Frappat, from Zone Franche and Peter Van Rompaey, now as member of the board of the Belgian World Music Network.

It was so great to meet friends from other countries again! in the third picture, Husniddin Ato, cultural activist and photographer, takes a picture of the artist Astare after the interview I made with her for the archive of recordings of the MMM, that will be available online in a near future. I will be on the lookout to share these materials when they are made public.

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Stephanie Schumann is another of the colleagues with whom I have been in regular contact during these past months, in relation to Agima.

Stephanie, together with her colleague Julia Kastl, work with their company Delicious Tunes mostly with African artists, on booking and also on everything that goes into career development, including the recording side and all the communication.

I thank Stephanie for her kind welcome to the proposal of this little interchange of ideas!

Click the logo to get a taste of their work from their website before reading the interview:

Stephanie Schumann: My background is the fashion and beauty industry – the love for this incredible beautiful music and the great diversity made me start working in the music industry and I started off as an agent first teaching the business to myself.

MM: From your training, education, previous experiences, which ones of the skills or knowledge you got have been the most useful for your career as an agent of musicians? 

SS: Organisation skills and I am a good networker. My ability to adapt fast in case of changes.
Apart from that or those skills, which other do you think are essential to succeed in this field of work?
You have to be consistent and to have the patience to build an artist over a long term period. Also it is important to be reliable and honest.

MM: Any particular advice for a fellow newcomer or someone who wants to get started in this field?

SS: Be reliable and consistent if you want to be taken serious and walk a long way.

MM: And now, for the artists. I’m sure you get requests from artists every day to be their manager. I am sure because it happens to me too, and many colleagues tell me the same thing. Do you have any recommendations for the artists, so that they can improve the way they communicate when they do it for this purpose?

SS: Check the agency first – are they operating in your fields and do they fit to your style and genre. It is also good to see their location. Please send professional well prepared materials, otherwise the agent cannot get an idea of the artist.

MM: Do you think it makes sense for the artists to try to find an agent? Have you ever started a stable collaboration with a band or artist that approached you in their search of an agent? 

SS: I think it makes sense yes if you want to professionalize your way of working and also if you want to reach out to new territories.

MM: I think there will be still, at least for many years, a lot of artists and a much smaller number of agents, that is the current situation. This makes me think that we are not in a very interesting business, otherwise there would be many more agents working in world music. Nevertheless, it seems the artists requiere us. Something seems to be wrong, what is it?

SS: I guess there are more artists than agents and it is not easy to find dedicated people to do the job and build an agency where for a long time. In the beginning it is very hard to earn decent money for your work and costs. It is mostly people who are very passionate and dedicated but only a few manage to survive and to do a professional job. It needs many years to grow with the artist and to make sure you stay in a long term relationship when they become more successful. The % when you book a 1000€ show or a 10000€ show are the same and the amount of  work and time you have are most probably the same, but you cannot survive from the small percentage of 1000€ and you need to work 10 times more and put 10 times more time. This often does not make sense business wise.

MM: Especially in the last year, many of us, independent agents or micro-companies, have felt a bit alone and misunderstood. I have heard claims from colleagues from different countries arguing they have not been considered in the support for the arts after the ravages of the pandemic. With this in mind, I have several questions: 

SS: Yes and no – I have to say in Germany we got considered in the Corona funds and it helped to survive and invest further as we not only do bookings.

SS: We make sure the promoter gets a good quality act and that all is running smoothly towards a concert production, that the band arrives in time and in good shape. For the artists we make sure they get good job and gig opportunities and they get paid and have all they need to deliver a high class concert. In general for both sides there is a lot of work done before in the background, which is not visible but without it many concerts would fail or become a disaster as certain things are not realistic and need to be considered even before you agree to a booking.

MM: Explain in one or two sentences, to the wider culture community, the reasons to book musicians from around the world that give a relevant presence to their roots.

SS: It adds to a colourful world and enriches cultural exchange which is essential for an understanding and more peaceful togetherness on this planet. Cultural diversity is richness and alters the living standards in our society.

MM: This question is specific for you, as you work mainly with African artists. What are the biggest differences or complications when you work with African artists? I think maybe the visas, or also the cost of the flights, even the political uncertainty in some countries, would you highlight anything? If so, how do you deal with that?

SS: Yes it is definitely more challenging and a bigger workload to organize visas for artists living on the African continent. Even African musicians living in Europe with an African passport are more work intense than European passport holders. My attitude is : “NO” is not possible for me. It adds a lot of pressure and stress to my agenda to get everything done we need but in the end it has always worked out. I personally love the music from the continent and I find great pleasure in bringing it to the world. I just wish there was more support and funding opportunities for these artists and people like us working with them. It is not easy to build an act from Africa for overseas tours as in Africa different music genres are popular but European media and promoters have a special idea of how Africa must sound and ignore some trends from the continent. The thinking is still a bit too ancient and old fashioned to my taste.

MM: Is there anything else you want to share or disseminate?

SS: I want to encourage anyone working in funding institutions – let us get more in dialog and have conversations and exchange about funding projects and what is truly needed for the artists, their managers and agents.

Credits:

This year I will miss this date but it is always a great occasion to network and to discover interesting artists. They got to develope on site events in 2020 and this year it will be almost as usually.

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After the meeting in Brussels in November 2019, the EFN calls again for a face-to-face meeting. It will be held in Budapest, at the Hungarian Heritage House. The program will be announced soon. Check the website by clicking on the logo.

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• Afro Pepites arts market opens the call for artists until 31st of September (Already present in the previous edition of the newsletter)

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Organised by my much admired Bojan Djordjevic, who is producer and manager of bands and member of the World Music Association Serbia and also radio journalist and member of the World Music Charts Europe.

Feel free to check the little interview that was published in October 2019 with him, here.

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• European Folk Network in person meeting, November 17th and 18th (aforementioned).