By Agnes Nonsizi
We all know of the phrase ‘Any publicity is good publicity’ but is it? Well there are two sides to it; it is a yes and no situation.
Controversies and scandals have been a part of musicians' careers since time immemorial, and sometimes in a musician's career they are inevitable because of the nature of the job which gives them little or no privacy at all despite them trying to remain private.
There are two types of controversies, created ones, where an artiste and his/her team formulate a controversy so as to drive traction towards the brand; most of the time it is when the artiste has a project on the way and then there is the second one which we can call an organic one; those that just stem from activities in the artiste’s career or personal life.
In the case of the created controversy, the team needs to weigh the pros and the cons. Will it affect brand partnerships that the musician has in any way? Will it affect the brand in the future in any way? Because the musician could gain the numbers, get the traction and make music sales but lose on other areas which basically that is how life is, but if the losses are more than the gain then the musician's team might need to reconsider that option.
Most upcoming musicians might think that it only takes a scandal or controversy to elevate their careers but these cannot replace work. If anything, if the much craved fame comes fast without learning the key lessons in their journey, maintaining it will be hard.
Almost every musician attracts attention at one point in their career. Being in the public eye isn't easy, and the fame and fortune does not make them immune to some crazy controversies.
It could be as small as a statement gone wrong in an interview to a wardrobe malfunction on stage, violence, murder, couple feud, theft etc. The list is endless. Some controversies have cost musicians brand partnerships, corporate deals and brand ambassadorships.
Since controversies seem to be a part of the job, the best thing a musician can do is invest in a good public relations team that will assist handle the crisis. We have seen musicians who have tried to handle their own controversies and it has not gone down well and we have seen big controversies being handled so well making the negative impact in the brand less.
Even if you don’t have full time PR teams consider consulting one in times of scandal, to handle the situation in a professional manner.
What's definite when there is a controversy in a musician's career is the attention; which is usually a good time to do something meaningful with it.
It is not what happens to us; it is how we respond to it and this also applies to a musician's career.
Nonsizi is a publicist, co-founder of Terazo New Media
