Undoubtedly, artists play a very important role in ensuring the success of a music event or for this reason event organizers should be extremely careful with their selection.
However, image is very important while selecting these artists as not every artist is suitable for a particular event.
Graphic Showbiz surveyed a few event organizers’ sample views on all the factors they consider before selecting artists for their events.
Robert Clah of Charterhouse comments, “Every event is different but the most important thing you always want to look at is your target. Each show has the type of people they want to reach which will inform your choice of artists.
“Hit songs and image also play a role because people want to come and jam to your songs and when you have young people they want to come and jam to hit songs. Image plays a big role depending on the type of show you have and your audience.
“Sometimes, you have a theme that you want to work with, you have a feminine theme or you want an all-female artist because you have young people, so the artists have to be people that young people want to resonate with.
“Your expenses determine who you can or cannot afford. If you’re doing a program where clients are paying, they decide who you field because they’re paying, he said.
Nabil Alhassan of Event Factory also shared his views, “First it depends on the type of show, if I’m doing a highlife show, I can’t put a rapper on it, similarly if I’m doing a hiplife show I can’t put gospel. Act on it.
“Then you look to put on artists that are relevant in terms of their radio play and social media presence. You then look at the cost, your budget and if you can afford the artist. After all that is done, you look at the artist’s stagecraft to see if it fits your target audience.
”I can go to artistes like VIP who haven’t released a new song in a long time but their old songs are still relevant and people jam to them like Amakye Dede.
“Image is important because sometimes you’re doing a corporate event and you can’t bring someone who’s revealing himself, or sometimes you’re doing a presidential or political event and you can’t bring someone who’s infamous or who smokes weed,” he concluded.
George Quaye of Image Bureau says, “If it’s a client’s event, the client usually decides who they want. If this were our own event, several factors would come into play. If it’s a ticketed event, the artist’s currency is important.
“Is it the artist, is the target audience willing to pay to see it? Once this part is cleared, the next line to check is the artist’s availability, willingness to be on the show and finally the cost. Can I afford the artist?”
“There is also the sponsorship factor, sometimes the headline sponsors, may insist on certain artistes based on what they want to achieve by associating with the event. Some may even go to the extent of paying extra to get you artists on the show. Sometimes, as part of the contract, artists must endorse their product while on stage.
“Sometimes, you can choose an artist to create a certain kind of effect based on the type of event. “Old School” is a typical example of creating a nostalgic effect. If it’s a Valentine’s Day show, a wedding reception, etc., you can also choose a romantic/love-type act,” he said.
On his part, artiste manager and event organizer Nana Poku Ashes said, “The number of songs a person has comes first, then the number of fans he has, then you consider his stage presence, he is able to command the stage and people love him. Who he is etc.
“You also look at how many hours he can be on stage and then ask yourself, are people going to come and pay to see this guy? Then you look at the cost, can you afford the artists? Some artists come with a whole entourage. You book Shatta Wale and they come with about 20 people, all of them. Can you buy the rooms?
For Ashes, image doesn’t matter, “For me, image doesn’t matter, what matters to me is that the person is a crowd puller and I can get numbers,” he said. .
Source: graphic.com.gh
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