Sarkodie and Shatta Wale
 As a Brand and Communication Strategist with my focus on the Creative Arts Industry, l normally take a surf on the walls and handles of bloggers, actors, anchors, musicians, pundits, corporate entities and many others.
On one of such visits, l came across an opinion which ridiculed a collaborative piece between Ghanaian actor Lilwin, Guru and Flowking Stone in my opinion.
A typical me, took time and made mention of a few points to help inform on that page.
After a well informed education on the page, l asked myself whether musicians and their management, really do understand the need for collaborations and its benefits?

l remember in one of my articles l wrote a bit on collaboration and its benefits to up and coming musicians.
Read more: http://ntiamoahwilliams.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-demons-of-music-brand-identity.html

No matter the kind of musician you are; whether a solo artist or group or in a band, collaboration is one that you cannot ignore as you build or maintain your consistency and brand in the music industry. Collaborations could be in many forms. One artist lending his or her vocals on anothers' or writing a song together. It could be teaming up to stage a show together or going on collaborative tour or campaign. Which ever form it takes, the conclusion is, Collaboration is good for a musician if done and done well. It will push your music career further than you could have done single handedly.

There are many benefits in collaborations but as your brand and communication strategist, l will focus on three.

1. Introduction to New Market: 
MzVee and Stonebwoy
Guest features are huge in today's music scene, and they're also a fun and often refreshing marketing phenomenon. Just think about the effects – it can be instant exposure! For instance, a feature can be used to introduce an up-and-comer by giving them a guest verse on a well-known artist's track. But even more strategically, you can combine two different genres of artists on one song to try and introduce your sound to other audiences. With collaboration, one artiste is introduced to the other's market thus, fan base. It is unto the artiste to make an impact on the new market to win a percentage over. As an artiste manager, l have seen many collaborations that were just done without any plan in place. Some even have to pay for the collaboration or feature and yet, it all ends there. This is absolutely unforgivable because, you are given access to an already made market which you need to pay attention to. The new market can be converted into REVENUE whether by increase in fan base or brand equity. One of the successfully planned collaboration in recent times in the Ghanaian music industry was South African AKA, Nigerian London based Burnaboy and Ghanaian Sarkodie. This collaboration brought AKA into the mainstream in the Ghanaian music market and also increased the Sarkodie base in South Africa. These numbers, would be or can be converted into revenue. The bigger your market, the bigger and tall your income tree grows.

2. Source of Breakthrough for Up and Coming Talents:

Mr. Eazi and Wizkid on stage
Collaboration is one genius way of generating a bit more buzz in new/mainstream demographic segments.  Collaborations do not only help up and coming artistes but also help the mainstream artistes. My experience over the years didn't only see successful collaborations but has also witness some career ending collaborations. Collaborations are good but it must always be strategic. To collaborate with a A-list artist with the mind of using that to introduce you to the market is a serious risk which many people don't know. One, the A-list might dominate the song and you will end up missing in memory. Again, your song might be attributed to the A-list artist which would mean you will have to do extra work than you earlier thought to get noticed. All these happen due to the simple fact of up and coming artists allowing A-List artists do more verses on the song. A typical example in recent time is Wisa feature Luther. Another one back into memory lane is Edowodzi feature Stay Jay on the "Yenko konnn" song. If you allow too much dominance on a song by an A-list artiste, you stand the risk of totally missing in memory of the masses. On the other hand, if an up and coming talent if fortunate to be featured by an A-List artiste, you stand the chance of awareness from the masses depending on your role and performance on the song. Let me say this, collaborations is not a 100% guarantee for an up and coming artiste to break into the mainstream market. It is only possible when it is well planned and well executed. Even that, it could still not get you there but will surely keep you in memory of the masses.

3. Skills Development:

Becca and 2Face Idibia
Collaboration with other experienced musicians gives one the opportunity to learn new things which enhances the skill of the musicians involved. This can only happen when both arts are working together from writing the song together, planning, recording together and rehearsing together. No musician is a "know it all" and all musicians do their things differently. The way Ghanaian legend, Kojo Antwi will write, arrange, compose and sing his song would be different from how Daddy Lumba will also do his. Therefore, if these two arts feature on a song, they will share new ideas and learn from each other's skills which will help both artistes in their future works. Unfortunately for most musicians now, most of them feature other musicians and do not even meet the other musician till the song is completed. This is very wrong though we are in a new era of technology. Truth is, if you can afford to meet the other artiste where ever his location maybe, DO NOT HESITATE. JUST DO IT. Trust me, you will end the project more informed and educated one way or another.
Another interesting thing is, you both might end up not even recording the song or piece planned. You might end up with a whole new song which was never planned due to the atmosphere and energy in the studios. Many things do happen in the studios and like l always say, arts is spiritual and emotional. You just might not know what will inspire your next big work. Ask Ghanaian songstress Becca how she got her breakthrough song "You lied to me" featuring Kwabena Kwabena.

Further, as a new, growing or established artiste, your working skills and culture towards a project with a bigger or equal level artiste might earn you another feature from the said musician or better, a recommendation to other big musicians. Never pay for collaboration and just get a song. There is more to it than the song.

My name is Ntiamoah Williams, your Celebrity broker, Brands and Communications Strategist.
Always remember, Brand or Be Branded