Brazilian Technobrega Musicians Embracing Free Distribution Even More
from the good-to-see dept
Three years ago, we wrote about the phenomenon in Brazil of "technobrega" music, and how the musicians involved had embraced piracy to help spread their music, and then capitalize on other business models, including free. Since then, I had been wondering if more established "industry" types would move in and try to lock down the music. Thankfully, reader tuna sends over a more recent article about technobrega, and it appears that technbrega artists are embracing free to an even greater extent than before. Last time we wrote about it, the technobrega artists would rush copies of their (hastily burned) CDs down to street vendors, who would burn and sell copies of it (with none of the money going to the artist -- but they didn't care, because they wanted more people to hear). Now, they're even skipping that middleman and focusing on getting the music online quickly and spread as widely as possible. As Jose Roberto, who runs a technobrega website notes:"If you don't have an official CD, then what is piracy?"So why are the artists so eager to give away their content for free? Because the bigger your reputation, and the more people know who you are and like your songs, the more money you can make with live shows. Quite similar to the history of Jamaican music in the 1950s and 60s, the technobrega musicians and DJs have built up traveling soundsystems. Another way to make money is in dance classes. Apparently, learning the complicated dance steps is a big business. A researcher, Ronaldo Lemos, who has studied the technobrega business, notes that it's doing amazingly well by embracing technology and embracing file sharing:
"The crisis in the music industry is widely talked about... Tecno-brega is an industry that makes millions, but it is a completely different model of business. It doesn't see technology as an enemy but as an opportunity."And yet, I'm sure, we'll soon hear from folks trying to explain why this could never work anywhere else.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: brazil, business models, economics, free, technobrega
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Mike is right...
But that's probably due to very RIAA-ish* garden gnome loitering there.
*(You would think that finding a garden gnome posed with a fist full of cash and his boot on the neck of an artist would be hard to find, but no, not at all.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Mike is right...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Mike is right...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Mike is right...
Video?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Now how the eff those people make that kind of money with that dreadful sound they call music? and more important why the eff are capable of making money in a third world country and people can't make it on rich countries? Are Brazilians artists smarter than Americans?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Possibly, but what they aren't is lazy. They know making a living making music means making music. They don't just sit around hoping to get rich from a big recording contract.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]