Defunct Virgin MegaStore photo credit: Rich Zerbo h/t:  Dave “Write my Eulogy” Qualm Calm Quam

We all know the “indsutry” has collapsed. Not that most interesting music was ever fucking with the major label models anyway- but everyone ate their share of the largess of the recording industry. Now everything is in disarray. We are sorting through the pieces. We want to be fulfilled human beings making a living. Like some sadistic Rube Goldberg device we are fitting together a bunch of ill fitting widgets and hoping that in the end cash will trickle down. We are not a trust fund project or anyone’s hobby. We eat off what you give us.

The big agreement initially was this- recorded audio sales are down – now CA$H will come from touring revenue, merchandise, and licensing. But what if your Shadetek and have a family to take care of and can’t be gone every other week to Europe. Or what if you dont have the capital to invest in a big merch inventory (DA branded prayer candles coming as soon as I get back from Africa on my moms). Or what if your not in with the advertising/film/video game world and havnt had the 1 in a million opportunity to be featured on a itunes spot. It’s dope to have 4k facebook friends and twitter followers- but monetizing hype and goodwill  is hard, especially for electronic musicians that don’t fit the standard indy band management model. We are hustlers though. We are never gonna stop.

But I want to make sure our extended family understands what moves we are making, and why. This isnt abo’ut selling more albums then mad decent, or having hyper raves parties then trouble and bass.  We are creating a sustainable business model that allows for our work to reach the world AND provide us with the resources to continue pushing beyond ourselves. Major changes are in order- and I dont want any of you- our extended DA family – to be left behind. One of the most important tenants we follow is transparency. WE ARNT TRYING TO HIDE BEHIND BIZ3RRE MARKETING AND EXPENSIVE GRAPHIC DESIGN. WE JUST DO THIS FOR OUR PEOPLE SO YOU KNOW Y’ALL CAN HAVE IT.

With that in mind we are starting a new interview series “#realtalk” – where we explore some of the dark arts and reality underpinnings of music/art worlds. Shadetek is going in on his solo blog– but expect to see the most relevant content cross posted. We are gonna pull back the curtain a bit more, but do not be scared. We want everyone to be rich.  First up we are gonna explore the shady as fuck  (/powerful) world of PR in the digital era (primer here). But from the perspective of one of the good guys- Leeor Brown, 1st employee of Terrorbird and founder of  Friends of Friends.

We are also bringing on to the team some new voices holding things down on tips as diverse as Up 2 the times UK bashment to QR code generation and all sorts of shit we have no idea about but wish we did. So hold tight. We in this together.

(PS basically wrote this whole post to have a reason to post that image)