 |
| Me and US based Hip Hop RnB artist Jay Lieasi formerly known as Prote-J |
By FIDELIS SUKINA
With the expanding technology, music streaming applications,
and other latest techniques of sharing free music what can Papua New Guinean
artists do to protect their brand of music.
Jay Lieasi formally known as Prote-J is making a living from
music, and has the support of his fans back home in the States and here in PNG;
I had the opportunity to be indulged on the latest branding and marketing
techniques that could help PNG artists market themselves.
He gave some innovative ways of marketing PNG music, he said
most artist thought of music as a hobby but there was more to it even being a
way to improve your life.
“We find that a lot of artist take music as a hobby
progressing to just a certain point, but if they take it serious it’s a way to
make a living a way to get your dreams up a way to travel, a way to open up a
lot of doors”
He added that being a musician was not necessary playing an
instrument and singing but has more to do with business and requires great
effort to research the market.
“People perceive it that if you can play an instrument or if
you can sing you’re a musician but to be successful in a music business, it’s
literarily 90% business and 10% music, understanding that and spending more
time understanding the back end of music is important”
Lieasi said branding and stepping up to improve music was
something only a few artists in PNG were doing.
“Just brand yourself market yourself properly, understanding
how to target people who will respond to your music, how to best reach them all
these little things is key in everyone understanding and taking themselves
serious about being an artist and elevating themselves to a whole new level”
“When it comes to the
sound quality, the look the brand the feel, every aspect of the performance
small little details that require a little extra effort, only a few artists are
doing it”
“But large majority of artists are yet to really grasp that
concept of viewing yourself as a business as a brand that is one way I want to
impact the industry and help it grow, I’m just really excited, try to open up
more doors more opportunities and do
more to my community”
He added that the music industry was getting crowded with
everyone trying to make their name, but the new era of music is all about being
creative and finding ways to have your own style.
“Music industry is crowded everybody wants to make their
name it’s not the same, record labels are nonexistent, it’s all about
independence, with the digital age you can reach fans directly, before you needed
an article or an advert, It’s all about the artist opening up to the people so
that they can get a deeper connection with you, in the past you needed a
newspaper article or a magazine to have your story told now you just post it on
Face Book and social media and all your friends have it instantly, these days
people look at your personality a lot deeper what you like to do for fun, those
things are factors on whether or not someone likes your music these days”
He added that Piracy was a big in PNG but an artist has to
see it as a way forward and work around the problem
“People are not going to stop doing what they’re doing, it’s
something that they are used to, and it’s all about convenience people want to
save money and get what they want to get, you either go against it or embrace
the reality and find creative ways, different ways to make an income”
“It all comes back to being a business, ok you didn’t get
paid each time they got your music but now you have all these fans who love
your music and listen to it every day what can you do with that”
“you can leverage it by doing an event , you can create
merchandise, sell them your T-shirts, your hats your clothes things that
represent your brand, it’s all about understanding that you own your
trademarks, your name seeing the value in that, and monetizing it that way”
“Anywhere in the world and in the states the majority of
their sales doesn’t come from album sales it’s the least way they make money, they
make money through touring merchandising, through film, there are companies who
want to make a commercial they need music and all the others, as time and
technology changes artists will realize that and start to adapt”
Lieasi said selling music the old fashion way was something
short lived and people need to think long term visions that’s how artists can
make real money that’s not how they can sustain their music career by building
their brand.
He had this final situation of building a sustainable income
of music which he said was a sure way of understanding the sustainability of a
music career.
“1000 people follow you and they spend K10 on you and in a
year they spend K100 each that’s an annual income thinking that way that I am
not out to please anybody, I am out to make the music I want to create and that
resonates to the people I know support me and are following me and want to come
to an event to buy merchandise to support my brand my logo what I stand for as
a person in the community everything comes back to individuality and
understanding the music business and positioning yourself to be in the business
for the long run”
No comments:
Post a Comment