Andile Mbete is a promotions specialist for Sony Music Entertainment Africa. He tells Margaret Harris that being able to work with people who love music gets him out of bed each day What does a promotions specialist do?Essentially, I work at elevating the public image of musicians and songs they produce to ensure they get the exposure they deserve and that fans (both old and new) can have access to and know about any music-related activity coming from our label roster.This requires a lot of relationship-building, keen communication skills and finding key moments to leverage your artists across all music platforms.The industry is changing, and this requires promotion specialists to be more dynamic than ever and to have new skills - although this is a welcome challenge rather than a hindrance.story_article_left1How did you end up at Sony Music Entertainment Africa?Before my foray into the music industry, I spent a long time in the branding and advertising world as a youth culture specialist, which meant authentically connecting brands to the youth market.My career began at Instant Grass, where I worked as a researcher and strategist.There I acquired good insight into the youth market and the unique role of subculture in the minds and hearts of the youth and in the branding and marketing world.From there, I had the opportunity to work for a unique design agency called ANDPEOPLE, which specialised in youth culture marketing from design and strategy to event management. It was a great opportunity to get my hands dirty and implement all my previous learning from Instant Grass.I was fortunate enough to have some great contacts at Sony who thought that it would be a good fit. The rest, as they say, is history.How did your time at ANDPEOPLE prepare you for the work you do today?As a youth culture agency that dealt a lot with music, ANDPEOPLE gave me a lot of on-the-ground experience in the world of music and allowed me to connect with key stakeholders who are still valuable to me today.It also taught me practical skills, such as managing a lot of things at once and keeping a cool head under pressure.What is your favourite genre of music?Music is my first love, and that journey began with a deep love for hip-hop. As a sample-based genre of music, hip-hop turned me on to a bunch of genres that led to an obsession with post-punk, house and soul music.So, I wouldn't say I have a favourite genre, but there's nothing better than a heart-wrenching 1960s soul song - nothing!Which artists - local and/or international - would you love to represent?To be honest, I get to represent a lot of my "dream artists" at the moment. The great thing about Sony is I get to work with artists as big as Beyoncé, which is always fun and exciting, since we can do really big things to promote her, to more niche acts like The Internet, which tend to become more like a passion project and require a great deal of creativity.story_article_right2What is the best part of your job?The main thing that gets me up in the morning is the fact that I get to engage with music every single day of my life and work with people who love music just as much as I do. We may all have differing opinions and tastes, but our passion is all the same.Is the work you do as glamorous as it sounds?I don't think there's any job that is entirely glamorous - every job requires a great deal of challenging work and admin to make it work. However, not a lot of people in South Africa really do what I do, and it's a constantly changing environment, which makes what I do quite special.What did you want to be when you were a child?I wanted to be a lot of things as a kid - largely associated with music and culture (I even toyed with the idea of becoming a rapper, but I was terrible at it), but a career in advertising eventually became my primary interest when I was young...