Ian Bredenkamp

Founder

As the Founder of I Be Music, Africa's premier music marketing company, Ian Bredenkamp leads a dynamic team dedicated to advancing the careers of artists and labels across the continent and beyond.

Under Ian's leadership, I Be Music offers comprehensive artist and label services, specialising in streaming, radio and TV playlisting, and artist PR. His client roster boasts a diverse array of international labels, indie labels, and emerging artists, including global icons such as Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Coldplay, and Cardi B, among others. He’s worked with releases of South African icons including Hugh Masekela, Johnny Clegg, Major League DJz, Big Zulu, Sjava, Lady Zamar, Kamo Mphela, Elaine and many more. Major players in the music industry, including Warner Africa, Universal Music South Africa, Virgin Music, One RPM and BMG Europe, trust Ian and his team to deliver unparalleled promotional strategies and results.

A highly accomplished public-speaker, Ian has engaged audiences at the BreakOut West music conference in Calgary in Canada, the Journalism department at the University of Stellenbosch, the COPA (Centre of Performing Arts) in Pretoria and Midrand, Cape Audio College in Cape Town, the Tunecore x Texx and the City music workshop in Johannesburg and many more. He’s also appeared on several media outlets to discuss music marketing including SABC3’s Expresso morning TV show.

His expertise is honed from years of influential roles, including a prominent tenure on Primedia Broadcasting's Senior Management team. He played pivotal roles as Head of Programming for KFM 94.5, overseeing music strategy for 947 (Joburg) and KFM (Cape Town).

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WENDY VERWEY BEKKER

DSPs & Label Services

Wendy started her career in the music business at Universal Music South Africa, breaking the biggest internationally signed acts (Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons) in South Africa. Over the next ten years she worked her way up through the decline of CD sales and rise of digital distribution, finishing as Head of Marketing. She built on her entertainment industry and technology knowledge by joining South Africa’s cult festival OppiKoppi and machine-learning algorithmic playlisting startup Labs.fm, before opening Ditto Music’s operations in Africa as their regional manager in 2018. Over the last six years She’s educated independent artists across the continent, signed award-winning artists and labels to the label services division and designed marketing strategies that have grown careers, exporting break-out independent African artists internationally (Monaky, Easy Freak, lordkez). With a proven ability to align business goals, innovation and growth for both independent artists and their teams, as well as within label operations, having cultural impact remains exciting to her. She is known for building artist-first strategies, leading agile teams remotely and driving market expansion across Africa.

Mellissa Ngcobo

Publicist

Mellissa Ngcobo is a dynamic media professional with over five years of experience at I Be Music, where she has earned a reputation as a highly effective radio plugger and publicist. Backed by a Media Studies qualification with majors in Radio Broadcasting & Production and Public Relations, Mellissa brings a strong foundation in both the technical and strategic aspects of media. Her work is driven by an instinctive ear for rising talent, a deep understanding of music across all genres, and a sharp eye for cultural and social media trends. Her work experience includes time employed at Vuma fm as well as the Johannesburg radio powerhouse 947 (Primedia Broadcasting).

Mellissa has built a trusted reputation as a connector—bridging the gap between artists, media platforms, and audiences. Whether pitching music to radio, crafting compelling narratives, or leading publicity campaigns, her ability to place the right story in the right hands has consistently resulted in standout radio play and meaningful media visibility for both emerging and established South African artists including Nkosazana Daughter, Easy Freak, Lady Zamar, Lizzie Berchie, Angelique Kidjo, Big Zulu, Lizzo, Wizkid and more.

ASHLEY LOBO Pregueiro

Publicist

Ashley Lobo Pregueiro is a music industry professional with years of experience as a radio plugger and publicist. Discovering new music is one of her favourite things in the world. When she's not working in the music industry, she's part of the SuperSport talent team as an award-winning content creator, and she's a romance author. Jack of all trades, working each day to continue to master them all. The artists she’s worked with includes Will Linley, Neon Dreams, Milky Chance, Alex Warren and more.