Meng Kuok has just been named MBW’s Entrepreneur of The Year for 2023/2024. He was in Cape Town for Music Exchange in June 2023.

He is the founder and CEO of Singapore-based Caldecott Music Group, home to music tech company BandLab Technologies – and its flagship music-making platform, BandLab, with over 60 million registered users, cumulatively generating around 17 million new tracks each month.

Meng had profound words about the superfan and the app Bandlab, which should be the go-to app for creatives for 2024. Creation of consumption is critical.

When we talk about consumption, one looks at Spotify as the leader.

Generative AI  is also important to look at  and the effects it will have on creatives.

Mobile music creation is the future for creatives, but the problem is that if you don’t own Apple products, there are no tools for you to make music for free or easily.  

Using Android does not mean you are less creative or committed. Artists need access to channels, tools, and the correct voices to amplify the message.

Remember, we live in a world of personalised TV channels like TikTok and Instagram reels. You need content before you can consume it. Most people are mobile-first, and artists must be well aware of that.

Music making is more than just tools; you need community and feedback – music making is collaborative. Post-COVID, the new workflow for creatives includes Zoom and Google Meet.

On Bandlab, two-thirds of the audience is under the age of 24.

Never forget music is collaborative.

One only needs to look at D4VD (30 million monthly listeners ), a massive success out of Bandlab, which is now signed to Dark Room Records. He made his tracks on a mobile phone in his sister’s room on Bandlab.

Look to Luh Tyler (2.4m) and Cl4pers, whose viral hit Want Me! has over 10 million plays on YouTube.

Getting your music out is not a problem, but how you differentiate and stand out is vital going forward for creatives. Emerging talent is what will drive the industry going forward in 2024. Musicians need to look at themselves as a small business.

How do you listen to music now in 2024? How do you make sense of the noise?

Personal relationships, interactions, and community are key more than passive listening

Passive listening can get you a  record deal and a viral hit, but active fans give you a career. Ten thousand plays with a functional 100 monthly listeners is better than one million plays and one million monthly listeners who listen once and never again. Is that a real career?

Today, thanks to technology, you only need 1,000 fans willing to spend. That can make you a career built out of a micro-local community supporting and sustaining you financially.

You must build slowly and steadily so your music and message can relate globally.

In closing, Dr Trevor Jones, born in Cape Town, will turn 75 in March. He is the most significant artist ever out of South Africa.

 Respected as one of the Top Five original music score composers in the world, Jones is responsible for scoring over 120 wide-ranging blockbuster film and television productions, including the likes of Notting Hill, Angel Heart, The Last of the Mohicans and In the Name of the Father.

Amongst a plethora of accolades, Jones has also had the pleasure of conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Academy of St. Martins in the Fields, The RTVE Symphony Orchestra of Spain, The Greek National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and session orchestras in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Paris in the recording of his soundtrack music.

Artists like the late David Bowie, Sting, U2, Sinead O’Connor, Charlotte Church, Britney Spears, and Elvis Costello have also benefited from his mastery.