Whenever a product is commercially released, there is always some type of code attached to the product for tracking purposes, this in most cases is usually called the bar code which is slowly being replaced by the increasing popularity of the QR code. In these codes, details of the product including its pricing are attached. However, the recording industry invented the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) as a means of tracking a song or a record’s commercial performance. In most countries, there is often a central authority tasked with issuing these ISRCs to new music releases. It is these authorities such as Nielsen SoundScan that have the exclusive right to disclose the commercial performance of songs. Nowadays, online music distribution services such as Distrokid and Tunescore provide an ISRC immediately after uploading the music for commercial release, it then becomes the administrative duty of the artists, publishers or the artists’ managers to notify the relevant certification authority of these newly issued International Standard Recording Codes.

For as long as I can remember, Eswatini musicians have relied upon neighboring South Africa’s Recording Industry Association (RiSA) for their sales accreditation and certification. This in short implies that a song or record released by a Swati artist, in Eswatini, can only have it’s commercial performance measured using a South African standard. It is indeed a surprise that a sovereign nation such as Eswatini still does not have an established music certification authority even in 2022. The organization tasked with representing the interests of Eswatini creatives, particularly in the field of music, the Eswatini Arts and Music Association (SWAMA) has hardly mentioned any intentions to establish an authority of such a nature.

SWAMA President, the honorable MP Lutfo Dlamini recently raffled up a few furthers when he suggested in parliament that perhaps the national university, UNESWA was academically broke. After pondering on this statement for close to a week, as a proud UNESWA graduate I thought it best to provide my ‘intellectual opinion’ on the state of the Eswatini music industry as challenged by the honorable Ndzingeni MP. In my intellectual opinion, Swati artists will never be able to live up to or compete with the South African standard in terms of record sales. This is obviously due to a number of factors such as the demographic and economic differences between the two countries, hence it makes little to no sense to expect Swati musicians to compete for the same platinum plaque certifications with South African musicians who have an audience of over fifty million people.

The Kingdom of Eswatini has a population of slightly over 1.3 million people, should we not therefore establish a certification authority that will be relative to the population of Eswatini. If it takes 20 000 record sales to attain a ‘gold’ certification in a population of 50 million, then perhaps some kind of ratio can be worked out for a country with far less people. The economic difference between the two populations is also among the pivotal factors that justify the establishment of Eswatini’s own music certification authority. With over 60% of the Eswatini population still languishing in poverty, it’s not a lot of people who can actually afford to spend money on music download and streaming services such as Spotify, hence the widespread popularity of illegal music download sites such as Fakaza. For a country plagued by unemployment, civil unrest among other challenges, spending money on any form of art is considered a luxury purchase.

Perhaps it is high time the Eswatini music industry made the most of the few authentic music downloads and streams by establishing the country’s music certification authority. Then maybe some of our local stars would finally be able to receive those well deserved plaques and certifications for their music. Studios, performance venues, radio stations amongst others would have their walls lined with plaques of local musicians; thus instilling a sense of achievement and celebration of local arts.