One-note view of music quota off key

I WAS hoping that your analysis of the SABC’s 90% quota, “We are family: SABC vows to sing from muso hymn sheet” (May 22), would go a little further than quoting only the SABC’s Kaizer Kganyago, Samro, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse and Gallo Records, as they are unlikely to be critical.

Taxpayers fund the SABC. The decision to increase the quota should have been more inclusive and scientific, not made on the whims of its chief operating officer.

The consequences of this decision are not all rosy.

For a start, the SABC is bleeding audiences — radio and TV. Is this decision meant to camouflage this?

My kids don’t listen to radio. They watch channels like MTV and Trace, which play music from around the world.

What if Michael Jackson were to be reborn and he released another Thriller? There would there be less than a one in 10 chance that the SABC listener would be part of the world phenomenon.

Thankfully, my kids and I have choices. Because I love South African music, I listen to a Gauteng station, which describes itself as Afropolitan, from my base in Cape Town.

I suspect that artists will have high hopes because of this decision — and that their expectations will not be met. As Kganyago concedes, some stations are already playing up to 80% local content. I fail to see how a blanket 90% will change things dramatically.

The SABC must answer a simple question: if a music lover has R150 to spend on a CD, which CD are they likely to buy? The one playing on rotation on the SABC, or the one by a foreign artist who they would like to listen to but never hear because of a 90% local content quota?

In the past week, I have been dusting off my music collection. With every CD I listen to the SABC loses an opportunity to count me among its audience. — Bloke Monnafela, by e-mail