Now we all know that there is money to be made in this so called Middle-man game. Just look at the insurance and medical aid brokers, they seem to be doing alright.
Not many people notice this, but local music industry is probably one of the heavy-weights when it comes to the middle man game. With media blooming and all this funky new music coming out it is hard to say that business is bad. Far from it! Money is pouring in from all over. But is it legit? Is the work done to earn that wage, or is it simply a game repack and resell?

It’s no wonder international critics and media don't recognise local talent, even local critics and media hardly recognise it.  What is the point of having big international record labels on board if all that's getting promoted is America's Top 40 chart. It's easy to say but there is no real talent in the country, but no one stops to listen to what most popular artists at the moment sound like. For the love of God, we have Danny K as one of the Top 10 at the moment, but all he represents is a synthetic replica of what a successful bubble gum pop star should look and sound like. What I don't understand is, why do local bands and solo artists have to look and sound like a well known international act, in order to stand a chance of getting noticed.

Back to the Repack and resell scenario ... Label "X" looks up artists signed to it's international group, who have released an album in the last month. Logically thinking, if they sell albums overseas than they'll sell locally. Budget is assigned for media promotion and general shop advertising. After 2-3 weeks of Air play on popular radio stations the product is ready to hit the shelves and make it's way into the CD collections of some poor clueless teenager who's vision of good music is based on this country's marketing brainwash movement. This leaves no space for promotion of local music and defeats the whole purpose of having a record label. We mite as well all be music importers. That about sum's it up.

This is all nice and dandy until someone catches onto what is really happening. Then you get other industries promoting them selves and their products in a similar way. For example, how would a Giant like CTM sell it’s to quality tiles? Easy! Just make thousands of stickers with “Italian tiles” written on them and pooofff. Sales hit the roof. 

My questions are …. Why is South African population infected with this way of thinking? Are we not good enough for our selves? Why is it that the path less traveled is always less traveled? Everyone is quick to judge the government on how they handle their business yet what we don’t realise is that we have no business to take care of. We my friends are turning into a typical middle man nation, trading balls for kidneys and cashing in on someone else’s success.