In a country where the creative industry is not given much leeway, many individuals are working to make it easy for themselves and their colleagues. One of such people is Kiddie Beatz, a producer based in Ghana. He has created a portal that gives profiles on producers in Ghana and their works. Basically a google for Ghanaian producers. He spoke to us about why its so important for producers and gave us (of course) a great playlist.
Introduce us to Kiddie Beatz
I am Richard Armah , a Bsc Holder in Information Technology , I’m also a beat maker / producer.
What triggered the idea of BeatzNation?
Firstly, there was no ” Go to ” place for artistes who needed information about producers / DJs they intended working with.
Secondly, the average listener never bothered knowing who produced the songs they were continuously jamming to.
Last but not the least, Knowing the producers i admire faced similar challenges as i am and still got to where they are kept me going whenever i wanted to call it quits . I thought it would be great if i could help up and coming producers in that regard.
How old is BeatzNation? How does it function?
Beatz Nation started 31st May ,2015 . We’ll be 2 this year.
Beatz Nation serves as a portal that primarily presents information about Ghanaian producers /DJs , the productions they have to their credit and headlines they make to potential clients or music lovers.
We either contact the producers or they contact us about putting up their bio on the website and we work together to achieve that .
The ultimate purpose of beatz nation is to help with the recognition and online marketing aspects of what Ghanaian music producers do , to help them push their brand and Expose them to the world.
More often than not , producers are relegated to the back while the spotlight stays on the artiste and most times, their ability to promote themselves depends on the artiste and when these artistes release works done with them. That being said, Ghanaian producers are evolving and releasing their own singles, as well as other projects which wouldn’t rely solely on an artiste for release. Beatz Nation plans keeping users of the website abreast with such happenings.
For now , beatz nation puts up biographies of music producers , and works associated with them and shares it through channels available to it .
Why is it so important to have a platform like BeatzNation?
One of the most important channels for marketing or promoting a brand in this generation is a website. Unfortunately most producers do not have one. This is due the high cost of maintenance. Even though we have websites like Audiomack and soundcloud available to these producers, it is very important there is a portal were all these ‘scattered’ information can be brought together.
Since it’s inception , Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians from the music communities in countries like Ukraine , Finland , Australia, USA , UK and quite recently Germany , have made contact , looking to work with Ghanaian producers.
Some producers themselves have attested to the fact that they have been contacted by potential clients who claim they got to know of them via Beatz Nation.
There’s a general problem of people in the creative industry not getting their due payments, is this the same for producers? Why do you think this happens?
Yes that is very true for producers too. It is quite sad to be told a producer never received a penny for hit songs they produce, while you see the artistes living lavishly and performing these songs week in week out.
I think it all boils down to education, it’s up to producers to collectively educate themselves on the business/Legal aspects of music and know what they are entitled to.
What can change or can be done by producers in order to gain revenue from their craft?
firstly we need to put PEN to PAPER more, every production should have a contract attached to it , even if the production is a FREE one , there should be a contract to state what happens when that FREE production becomes a hit or is used commercially . How do we split the earnings ?
Producers should also register with royalty collection organizations such as GHAMRO , BMI , PRS . So that they can receive royalties whenever their productions are used commercially.
Another thing producers can do is to consider leasing beats.
As a producer yourself what are some of the 3 challenges you face?
I have just two currently.
Firstly, refusal of artistes to pay for productions or beats.
Personally , artistes have approached me for music with absolutely no intention of paying a penny for production.
Secondly , the cost of studio equipment and softwares (plugins) are often insane.
How would you describe your production?
Odd
Who or what influences your sound?
King Of Accra and THEM (you’ll understand this bit by next year lol) definitely influence my sound. My mood is another factor.
If you had 2 million dollars to spend in a day what’s the first thing you’re buying?
Definitely Studio equipment. I do plan owning the biggest studio in Africa.
How do you buy your waakye?
Waakye – GH2
Gari & ‘leaves’ – GH1
Meat – GH3
Fish – GH3
If you could be any animal in the world, what animal would you be and why?
The eagle of course , because it has great vision …and soars above every other animal.
Check out the good work at beatznation.com