You wouldn’t invite someone over for dinner and ask them to bring the cutlery, cook their own food, and leave before dessert. Yet somehow, that’s still how too many venues treat live musicians in Cape Town.

According to a 2022 study on revenue streams for music creators in South Africa by Music in Africa, live performance makes up 36% of total monthly income for South African music creators — over R42 million per month — yet artists earn just R11 076/month from gigs on average. That’s modest pay for what’s essentially a full-time job — and it makes the basics all the more important.