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Ratio Blog: Why the MAMAs Were the Business

Monday, 26 October 2009

So the MTV MAMA voting process was skewed towards the Kenyans. And even the Kenyans voted for were not representative of the true Kenyan musicians and singers, out there in the country side. One-hit wonders, shallow manufactured creatures. From which, inevitably, follow the corruption of the youth and all manners of other decay.

Somehow, some people have really missed the point.

Thika Road traffic on the way to Kasarani Stadium was business as usual: Potholes, a total disregard for civility and the most basic traffic rules, predatory public transport and bumpy detours. And then, in sharp contrast if you managed to do the U-turn across Thika Road safely , a kicking, professionally produced show. MTV state that they have 48.5 million viewers in 48 countries. Give or take a few, that’s a useful number to get some positive footage of Kenya out. And that number does not yet include any of the event’s media coverage, or blog mentions, or youtube clips. Better footage than starving cattle and people, better footage and outreach than Dr Mutua’s oddly self-congratulatory website lauding the replacement of plants in the CBD with rocks. Much friendlier for the tax payer than the paid-for CNN PR clips.

That the MTV/Zain MAMAs did not include all of Kenyan – or, for that matter, African – music is not really relevant. They never claimed to. They do not have to. At the 2008 AITEC Africa Broadcasting conference, MTV’s Alex Okosi was asked about the channel’s commitment to local content. At the time, he said that MTV would, of course, promote African content, but not exclusively so: For MTV, it was just as important to provide a window to the rest of the world for their African audiences. I thought the MTV MAMAs and the process leading up to it were a great example how nurturing local content can be combined with international production standards. I also like that this effectively blurs the lines between Africa and the global market place, making the continent an integral element rather than that other place where people and cattle die with depressing frequency in conflicts and famine.

What seemed like just a fun evening actually mattered for business, aside from planeloads of visitors descending on KQ and hotels and clubs. Nairobi won’t be the venue for the World Economic Forum, but – thanks to two switched-on multinationals, MTV and sponsor Zain – hosted an international show. And while Dr Ndemo likes to speak of the potential that ICT will create for young people in rural areas, such events are far more representative of where the real value, revenue and job generation be come from: In Africa, the transition to digital broadcasting and rapidly growing fibreoptic cable connectivity has nudged the content industry – and music is part of this – to a tipping point. This will be big business soon as demand for local content is growing exponentially. Anyone who can produce world class content will come out on top. MTV are riding the wave already. Others, like the Star’s sister company Kiss TV, are following on a much smaller scale.

Rock on, I say. The MAMAs were the business.

Andrea Bohnstedt wrote this commentary for the (Nairobi) Star.

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