The Middleman With Power: Exploitation in the Media and Creative Arts Industries

From former SABC Head of Channel Phumzile Zonke comes a brave step of advocacy and empowerment that equips aspiring creative artists and emerging broadcast media professionals with nuanced discussions and strategies to help them overcome #TheMiddlemanWithPower.

Amidst all the purported glitz and glamour, the South African showbiz landscape remains a melting pot of two opposing extremes. On one hand, the enterprises that manage and distribute works of art and own the intellectual property are raking in millions; whereas on the other hand, the artists producing these works of art continue to die as paupers with nothing to show for their efforts besides declining mental health. In this book, you will learn that in the media and the creative arts industries, nothing is as it seems. Popular culture paints a picture of creative artists and media practitioners suffering ongoing abuse and exploitation at the hands of record labels, film and television production companies, and book publishing houses. The Middleman With Power takes a deep dive into the business value chain of these industries and interrogates their decision-making processes to explore the validity of the assertions being made against them.

It’s a race against time as we figure out what is really going on behind the scenes. Who is the Middleman? What power does he have? Whose interests is he serving? Should creative artists and broadcast media practitioners cut out this Middleman completely? Or should they seek a new one? Who cares? And does any of this even matter?