Rest in peace old friend.

Keith ‘GURU’ Elam

July 17, 1961 – April 19, 2010

Gangstarr Forever!

Yeah I know, the records sales nowadays are in decline, mainly because of illegal downloading, blogs and pirate websites supporting it. Funny thing is that 9 out of 10 making those statements are people who work for, or own a major record label.
You hardly hear independent artists or labels complaining that hard, well, at least most of them.

The ones that are still satisfied with the current music climate are adapting to change.
They know it’s important to transform themselves into a brand, build their own 360 business model, execute creative marketing & promotion strategies, maintain a personal connection with fans, and embrace new technology.

It’s a new world with a new generation, new rules and a new music climate.
The most important thing to know about the new generation is; They are not conditioned to actually go into a record store and buy music.
It’s not even a question of not having the money, the same people that enjoy your music spend 30-40 euro’s on hats, 60 euro’s on games and hundreds of euro’s on clothes and sneakers, sometimes even on a weekly basis. They are just not used to paying for music and who can really blame them, they grew up on the fact that you can get music online for free!
It’s hard to change that mentality, al lot of majors tried and look what happened!  I suggest you start by lowering the cd prices but’s that’s another story.

It’s already hard enough to rise above the surface in a overcrowded music field, so adapt.  Be more than just music, be a brand instead of just another artist. Do research on how people perceive, purchase and listen to music. Most people nowadays treat music like fast food, they enjoy it till it’s finished and a minute later they already crave for something else.
That’s because it’s just music instead of a brand, a movement or something fans really connect with.
Don’t get me wrong, music is and will always be the most important factor!
Nowadays you just got to focus on more than just music if you want to be noticed.

First you got to understand there’s a big difference between supporting and buying.   A lot of artists have huge followings, fans that spread their music online, write blogs about them and boost their video’s with million’s of views.
But a video on You Tube with a million views is not the same as a video that has been watched by a million ‘unique’ viewers.
Your product can be in the top ten of Google and blog searches but it doesn’t mean that it’s selling. In most cases it just means that people online are talking about your product.