The business side of music is rarely talked about in the local industry. The focus tends to be on hype, numbers and less on the real financial impact. How much is the industry generating annually and who is getting the real money? What factors determine the value ? We take a look at the financial dynamics within the Zimbabwean music industry.

Plot Mhako

– Royalties (Zimura) _Last year 3300 Zimbabwean artists shared ZWL $23mil which now has a value of USD $32.000

– The highest royalties earning artist last year got ZWL $400k ( from Zimura) which is now equivalent to USD $570.

Foreign artists got USD$30 800 from Zimura (Zimbabwe Music Rights Association) for airplay in Zimbabwe in 2021.

– The highest paid Zimbabwean artists gets between USD$5k and USD$10k per booking (for a 2-3hr set) locally (and there are only 3 capable of charging this amount).

– An average SA or ARTIST (even one with a single hit) gets paid USD $5k – $20k for a 1 hour set.

– An average Zim artist gets paid between USD $50 – $2500 locally.

The least paid artist locally is performing for exposure.

– For SA shows an average Zim artists get between USD$150 – USD$3000. Top earners get up to USD$7k

– International show tickets in Zim range from USD $15 to $200.

– Local (Zim) show tickets range between USD$2 and USD$20

– When Zim artists perform in SA they perform mainly for Zimbabweans living there.

– When SA artists visit Zim, they perform for Zimbabweans.

The biggest industry question is: How can local create and earn better?

NB: some of the figures we used are estimates but very close to the actual figures. #Earground