PRODUCERS ARE NOT FULLY APPRECIATED IN THE ZAMBIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

For so many years the art of production when it comes to music has been under appreciated, especially by the fans of the music, they tend to glorify the artist and not really bother about the people behind the scenes especially producers, whose jobs are cardinal to the whole production.

Producers have been overlooked over the years and if they are not smart about their business some end up being under paid for the hard work they put it. We have witnessed few producers in Zambia make a living that can equal to the artists but in most cases these are producers that most likely own the record label or just combine their production art with other things but one who solely relies on producing alone gets close to nothing in Zambia.

A song can exist without any vocals on it, in the case of Rave and house music, and become an instant hit song however you can not have an artist sing without the works of a producer unless otherwise.

A well known Zambian music producer Mzenga man recently put out an article about how producers are under valued not only by fans of the music but also by awarding institutions, he brought out a point in regards to the just ended POTYA2021 awards where we witnessed various categories for vocalists such as best male, best female, best Dancehall(this was not a category at the POTYAS21 but just an example) Best hip hop album, most promising artist but when it came to the producers section who are 70% responsible for the songs that where being awarded, they only had one category which Mzenga man felt was rather unfair and he advised that they should consider categorizing them as well and give more and more options.

He had a valid point, it is time the art of production should start getting the respect it actually deserves and they must be awarded accordingly in order to encourage them and bring out a more competitive nature among them that will in turn result into excellent productions.

Their input in the entertainment industry is important and it is high time they are awarded accordingly. Behind the scenes production is usually not relevant to fans but for the awarding institutions it should be and we hope to see more and more producers appreciated out there for their work.