“Rachel LaFond reveals her answer to the new challenges.”
“It’s a clever and ambitious concept. Strictly speaking, you are turning the tables…”
A couple of weeks ago, German music and arts journalist Jennifer Balthasar and I sat down to have a chat about the state of the music industry, the unique challenges artists face today (as opposed to, say, twenty+ years ago), the fact that streaming has changed the face of the music industry for artists and consumers, and how The 52 is my attempt to answer those questions. We had a wonderful, stimulating chat that lasted about an hour and half! Jennifer posed all sorts of great, thought-provoking questions and then wrote an in-depth article/interview for the publication Unser Lübeck.
“First I think of the positive changes. The system has democratized. Everyone has the ability to produce and upload music themselves. There are no more gatekeepers. But of course this positive development also brings new challenges. If you are new to the industry as an artist, you first have to catch the attention of your would-be listeners. This can be quite challenging, as there are so many musicians in the digital world! On the other hand, if you were already established as an artist prior to the advent of streaming, you can simply bring your fans with you. As an artist, we have to adapt our ways of working and learn to constantly be offering fans new and interesting content, something unique that stands out, as followers expect in this new environment.” –Rachel
Read the full article and interview HERE.
Hot tip: the article is in German, but Google translate does pretty well translating this one to English.
Did you know I have playlists of the entirety of The 52 on many digital platforms? It’s the best way to listen to the whole body of work up ’til now. Start listening to The 52 on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Deezer, YouTube, SoundCloud, BandCamp, and everywhere else digital music is found.