By Darren Gilbert

And we are being left behind. While international bands grow up in a music industry that challenges them on a daily basis, the same cannot be said of South Africa. This industry is an awkward one. It’s difficult and complicated to crack. On top of that, it’s filled with a lot of people only looking out for themselves. If we want the local music industry to get better, that needs to change.

So how do we improve the industry? For Alan Shenton, manager of Openroom Productions, it comes down to platforms. Be it a live venue or a place to upload your videos, artists need platforms to show off their music. And so, Shenton, along with Grammy Award-winning producer, Darryl Torr decided to start their own. The result is Openroom.TV.

A music and lifestyle online TV channel with a strong focus on local content, Openroom.TV is a natural progression for Shenton and Torr. Both musicians in their own rite – Shenton is lead guitarist of Zebra & Giraffe while Torr is a former member of Dear Reader – the duo are also proponents for a stronger, healthier music industry.

“We did this because artists need a platform,” says Shenton. “They need to be able to practice their craft and get better.” And with the MK television channel having fallen away after a few successful years, there was a huge gap in the market. “Local bands really had nowhere to put their music videos or to see their live performances,” says Shenton. For example, Oppikoppi happens once a year and if you’re lucky, you can catch parts of it on their website afterwards. However, it’s sporadic at best.

“When MK was around, there was always a reason to make a music video,” says Shenton. Bands would happily spend good money because they knew there was a definite payoff. Their music would appear for all to see. However, with it gone, it’s a different story. Instead of spending R50 000, bands now spend R4000. This is not because they are cheap but rather because there is no motivation to produce good content. “We don’t want that mentality to take over,” stresses Shenton. A platform that plays quality content consistently can change that attitude. And change it fast too.

If you want proof, you only need to visit Assembly in Cape Town. “All of a sudden, there was a place for bands to perform at with proper production, proper sound and proper lighting,” says Shenton. A bar was set. The public now view it as a live music venue that hosts the best bands in the country. Musicians are lining up to perform there. And this is exactly what Shenton and Torr want to achieve with Openroom.TV.

“What we try to do as producers is curate that standard,” explains Shenton. “We don’t just accept anything.” If the music is not good enough or if the video quality is poor, it’s not going on. “Just because you can play three chords and write a bad song doesn’t mean you deserve to be on radio or TV,” points out Torr. But if you put the right effort in – if you put in the work – you will reap the rewards.

“The easy thing is to just say we’ll put everything on because we will get viewership,” says Torr. “But what is going to happen is six months down the line we are going to have watered down content.” This will, in turn, damage any progress made in building the industry.

Shenton agrees: “Openroom.TV is centred on quality and making the industry better. It’s not about making friends. There is a bar – a standard that is over friendships.” If you are good enough, you will make it on. Simple. Any serious musician should understand that in order to get better, they need to compete against the best.

And that’s what Openroom.TV offers. It is a platform for local musicians to show off their best work alongside their international counterparts. What more could you ask for? What more would you need to build a stronger, healthier music industry?

For more information and to watch Openroom.TV, visit www.openroom.tv. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook, on Twitter and/or on Instagram.