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ORGANISERS of 3Music Awards say the holding of this year’s event on a virtual platform is the clearest indication that such events are not ‘always about money but the prestige attached to it.’

Since holding the first event three years ago, the organisers have had to answer questions on how financial rewarding the organisation of the event was.

However, the CEO of 3Media, organisers of the awards, Mr Sadiq Abdulai Abu, explained that such awards were not money-making ventures but rather a platform to appreciate industry players who were making the industry thrive.

With a ban on social gathering due to COVID-19 but determined to pull the event through, the organisers held this year’s event in a virtual platform, thereby losing an opportunity to make some gains from gate proceeds among others.

Some observers questioned the motive for rushing to hold the event when like many others, it could have been rescheduled until an appropriate time.

But in an interview with the Graphic Showbiz, Mr Abu said in other parts of the world, such events are seen as prestigious events which showcase the richness of an industry.

“These kinds of awards are not seen as money making ventures, they are not necessarily commercially based that is why they are called industry awards. It is supposed to be one that appreciates the works of the players in the industry.

“It is only in our part of the world that we are concerned about making money from such events but you can’t fault us, it involves operations which may not necessarily come for free and you have to pay so you need to consider the money making aspect as well. Ideally, such events are the heart of the industry,” he said.

It’s has been three years since the 3Music Awards was birthed and they have organised three successful editions but one major challenge has been securing a major sponsorship and Sadiq says he believes it is just a matter of time.

“We believe in brand positioning, we think about value and not only cash, we may not necessarily be doing this because of cash due to the reasons I talked about earlier but we believe with time, firms will come to understand what this means to us.

"Let us also note that money cannot buy value, respect and reputation built, these have been what our brand is concerned on building.”

He went on, “this is not to say we have not had any support since we started, a typical example is this year, we had a bank and a beverage company coming on board but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to back out.

"They had their budgets locked, they had to repackage and in times like this, most of these institutions make their corporate social responsibilities their priorities so it affected us.

“The market has changed now, the dynamics are different, there is a massive shift and we understand very well but we also had to let the music play.

"So for this year, these are the reasons we didn’t have a major or lead sponsor on board but it is not because we are doing something wrong,” he said.

Asked why this year’s event was not rescheduled like other events, Mr Abu said,“we spoke to experts and had a series of discussions and with no end in sight for this COVID-19, we decided to go ahead with the event.

"And even if we had waited after it has ended, we all know that it will take some time for people to be comfortable about going out and attending events.

“So let’s assume things even come back to normal by November of this year, it will mean we would have to consider songs that are two years old, looking at the year under review.

“Obviously, this would be too much and affect almost everything so why would we do that? After all, organising a virtual event wouldn’t hurt anybody so we decided to go for it and it was a success”, he added.