Aumex creates a platform to share knowledge and tactics to
navigate the industry. PHOTO/ISAAC SSEJJOMBWE
One of the things that do not get much attention but affect the Ugandan music industry is limited research by the different stakeholders. Many things are done through guesswork that sometimes works out and most of the time fails.
It is on this background that Abaasa Rwemereza, a lecturer in business creative entrepreneurship at Artfield Institute of Design started Aumax, a skilling networking showcasing initiative for the music industry.
Rwemereza teaches audio production, is a music producer, drummer and former head of Record Label at Swangz Avenue.
Aumax, which in full is Amplify Uganda Music Expo, explains the intersection between music and business, focusing on musicians, entrepreneurs and young people who have talent but do not really know how to make money out of it.
Rwemereza said the idea was birthed after noticing a gap in knowledge in the industry.
D“We do not know what we are doing and so Aumex is trying to give people the tools, the tactics, the real-life things of how you can be a musician and make money,” he said.
This is being done through different classes such as the one that happened last week including Jaylor Birungi, Azawi’s manager and Francis Kasura, the general manager at Fireworks Advertising as well as Abaasa.
Among the topics discussed included marketing and branding, differentiating products.
“I talked about Azawi’s journey. What techniques we used to get to where we are, what influence did we use, how have we branded her to appeal to people these four years…,” Birungi explained.
She emphasised the role of an artiste manager, saying beyond the brand of the artiste, the manager will know what an artiste needs more than music, how to create a record, how to publish a song, which publisher to talk to, how to go about the digital space, how to go about the marketing space, which social capital one needs and how to invest money among others things.
This was the second class with two more to come and these classes will lead to a two-day conference that will happen every year, where people from all over the continent come to Uganda to interact with Ugandan creatives for business opportunities.
JAYLOR BIRUNGI SAYS…
Beyond the brand of the artiste, the manager will know what an artiste needs more than music, how to create a record, how to publish a song, which publisher to talk to, how to go about the digital space, how to go about the marketing space, which social capital one needs and how to invest their money.