On The Road: South Africa Shows Its Tour Potential

South Africa is coming into its own as a concert market. R.E.M. will begin its first tour of the country March 3, 2005, in Cape Town (billboard.biz, Sept. 23). The band will play the coastal city of Durban March 8 and Johannesburg March 10. The tour will be promoted locally by Big Concerts.

The region's other major promoter, Roddy Quinn at Real Concerts, says the South African market is undergoing a resurgence. The country's concert scene has been increasingly active during the past decade, since years of apartheid-induced boycotts were lifted.

Still, Quinn says, the venue situation in South Africa is not ideal. "Very few venues here were built specifically for music. We still use velodromes, sports venues and things built for other purposes."

The Dome in Johannesburg is one of those repurposed venues, though Quinn says it "does the job." In September, 50 Cent played a Dome concert with Lloyd Banks and local artists Zola and Kabelo for Johannesburg's Arts Alive festival. The concert also marked the 10th anniversary of democracy in South Africa.

Quinn says the Johannesburg city council, which organizes Arts Alive, was looking to expand the festival's scope this year.

"They wanted an artist that would appeal to all of the youth of Johannesburg," Quinn says. "We produced the event, and they gave us the go-ahead to book 50 Cent."

The rapper had been considering playing South Africa for the past six months, according to Jeremiah "Ice" Younossi, agent at Emmel Communications, the booking arm of 50 Cent's management firm, Violator Management.

"The festival was timed perfectly at the end of his European tour, and South Africa is a pretty big market in terms of music sales," Younossi says. "Management just wanted to make sure the money was right, security was right and that 50 would be in good hands when he got down there."

All these concerns were dealt with, Younossi says, with a payday in the $500,000 range. Parties on both sides of the equation were satisfied, and the concert came off incident-free, with a crowd of almost 15,000 at the 19,000-capacity venue.

"I'm confident [that] when the final numbers come in there will be a surplus of money, which will be put into next year's event," Quinn says. "But this wasn't a business venture to see how much money could be made."

The rewards exceed finances, he adds. "I've been promoting in this market for close to 20 years, and you couldn't put a value on what this concert meant to the city."

Younossi and Quinn think the concert market in South Africa is poised for growth.

"It's nice to see that, 10 years in, people now have a chance to see what they want to see," Quinn says. "This is definitely a growing market. The facilities are getting better, and the production companies are up to what can be produced anywhere in the world."

As for rap music in the region, Quinn says, "I don't think hip-hop has had a positive experience in South Africa in the past, or vice versa. 50 Cent delivering like he did gave rap back some of its credibility here."

Younossi says Violator and Emmel will continue trying to expand international markets for hip-hop acts. "We understand that you only get one chance to build a market like this," he adds.

Emmel, meanwhile, is having success with Banks and another young rapper out of the 50 Cent camp, Young Buck. Both artists are signed to 50 Cent's G-Unit label. They are on separate fall tours in support of their respective debut releases.