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.