Even though Michael Jackson is no more, the value of his albums live on—therefore, you cannot freely get any of his albums for download, unless you want to do so illegally.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got an email from Ghanaian rapper-Asem’s management, giving away his recently released album-Tough Times Don’t Last (December 2013 released) for FREE DOWNLOAD.
Just after 2 months of release, Asem is giving away his entire album for free download? Certainly, it is not that he has made enough returns—it seems people are not attaching value to his work so he has decided to give it out to them for free.
The problem with this strategy is, if someone does not value something enough to buy (probably because it is not good), it becomes even worse in the eyes of the person when offered for free.
Asem has not come out to boldly say he is ‘suffering in disguise’ as a Ghanaian musician but I’ve had conversations with several top musicians who have not been shy to put their cards of the table. The fact is, music in Ghana is a broke business—at least for the majority.
The returns do no come close to the input.
Everybody wants to be a musician in Ghana and whenever I meet or interview a Ghanaian musician, I ask this simple question behind the veil; what is your monetization scheme? Meaning, how do you intend to generate revenue from what you are doing?
Apart from Obrafour who had a good understanding of how he can possibly generate substantial revenue from his work (provided the needed platforms work to his favour), the many Ghanaian musicians I’ve threw the above question to have not been able to convince me of any well planned strategies.
From where I sit, I see many of our Ghanaian musicians as leaving the most important aspect of their success to CHANCE. Without proper revenue generating plans, many of our Ghanaian musicians continue to release singles and albums, investing all that they have for little or no returns.
This is the first time I have heard of a commercial artiste anywhere in the world offering his entire newly released album for FREE DOWNLOAD.
Asem is exceptionally talented, he understands music but being talented is not the key to catching up with the money side of things. Experts must be hired, strategies and schemes must be put together to pull in purchases and extensive publicity which targets the right audience must be employed….
In fact, before anyone jumps into music, the person must have a well thought-of revenue generating scheme—where the person intends and will make his cash from.
Maybe Asem has good reasons to give out his ‘whole’ investment for FREE DOWNLOAD, just 2 months after release. So we’ve reached out to him to see if he has any answer apart from the obvious; people are not buying!
As a music business consultant,i ve always advice artistes to have smater goals-more on that here :http://www.campusconnectt.com/create-smarter-goals-music/: and treat music as a business.So much talk about the success, or lack of, making it in the new music business industry. But it really comes down to treating your musician career as a business.
So if you’re really serious about taking the long haul and making music as your career,know the ins and out.Ever wondered what kind of income levels are achievable as a musician? Get in touch. [email protected]