Novel new international platform showcases South African music
South African musicians and record companies looking to break into the international market now have access to what could just be the perfect platform, thanks to an innovative new offering from locally-based internet magazine CapeTownMagazine.com.
The magazine, which has English, Dutch and German editions, attracts thousands of (mostly) overseas readers per day and through its new JukeBox feature it is aiming to give authentic South African music a complete new window to the world and thus a chance to tap into the overseas market.
From this week, anyone with an internet connection is able to discover and listen to songs from various South African music albums – from African lounge to apartheid-era Struggle music, from funky groove to gospel, from ambient chill-out sounds to djembe drummers. German and Dutch versions of the JukeBox will go live later this month, and at least 50 albums are expected to be available in the JukeBox by end-2009.
The first phase of the project lets visitors to the site browse through a selection of eight CDs and listen to a featured track via streaming audio. Each album has a comprehensive write-up and details about purchasing options. Subscribers to the site’s monthly free newsletter (which has over 17 000 subscribers) are able to download a free track each month, which represents significant further exposure for the artist(s) concerned.
“Overseas markets are extremely difficult and expensive to reach and through CapeTownMagazine.com we are reaching these incredibly important markets in three languages, every day of the year, for a fraction of the cost, so we are extremely excited,” says Alex Agulnik, CEO of African Cream Music, the first record company to have their albums featured on the JukeBox.
Marc Zandhuis, managing director of CapeTownMagazine.com, elaborates: “With all three languages we are looking at almost two million readers in the coming year, and up to three quarters of them are overseas. Apart from private individuals, our newsletter reaches over 800 overseas media and over 3,000 overseas tourism organisations every month. CapeTownMagazine.com is heading for an average of 5,000 readers per day in the coming year, so we’re confident of giving quality South African music the kind of international exposure it deserves.”
CapeTownMagazine.com combines travel and culture in a story-telling, as opposed to hard-selling, format. With this setup the site functions as a platform to help great South African products – such as wine, clothing, and of course music – to reach and be discovered by important (overseas) markets.
My personal target is to facilitate each album being stocked in all outlets of at least one major CD store chain on each continent before 2010 – only then will I be happy!” says Zandhuis.
Zandhuis refers to a statement made by Miriam Makeba when in Cape Town three years ago, when she said: “If my music is ‘world music’, what is all that other music - ‘alien music’?”
“I would love for the Jukebox to facilitate in making SA music ‘The World’s Music’ in 2010. It should be,” he says.
The JukeBox can be accessed from www.capetownmagazine.com or www.capetownmagazine.com/sa/music directly.
German and Dutch versions will launch on www.kapstadtmagazin.de and www.kaapstadmagazine.nl on 15 November.
For further enquiries please contact:
Marc Zandhuis
MD Cape Town Magazine PTY Ltd
marc@capetownmagazine.com
021-42 22 444 or 073-21 73 979
Alex Agulnik
CEO African Cream Music
alex@africancreammusic.co.za
011-3395295 or 083-67 50 173
Date Created: 2008-11-06 | Last Update : 2009-06-30 |
|
|
