KOMPA! MAGAZINE

[kompamagazine]

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The question that has been asked by many experts and fans in the business is HOW EFFECTIVE IS MUSIC VIDEO MARKETING? How much credit should MUSIC VIDEOS take in terms of "FE YON JAZ MACHE" or become popular? The debate will rage on from both sides of the coin...but based on the stats below.....it is really up in the air.

From the last sets of cds released on the market, we check out how many music videos were released by the bands to see how much of an effect it had on the group's success.

*KLASS (4 Music videos from their last CD): "Fel Vini avan, U Don't want me, Move Siyal, and the one that was there BEFORE Pipo joined the group BAGAY 9. We understand that NOU SE AYISIEN was NEVER COMPLETED for some reason, despite from what I was told; it was close to being done. The way that KLASS has controlled the market after the release of their CD, how much of THAT has to do with the visibility of the music videos? No one knows.

*CARIMI (2 Music videos from last CD): Baby I miss u and Kita Nago are the only 2 videos from the group from that CD. Would other music videos have helped pushed the CD more; or would it not have made any difference? No one knows.

*NU LOOK (2 music videos from the last CD) In securing the visuals for the songs that were most likely to do more for his business IN THE HAITIAN MARKET in the songs "Confessions" and "What aboutTmrw"; Arly Lariviere went the economical route. The band is among the top 3 right now so.....BUT, could he have done MORE?

*T-VICE (3 Music videos from the last studio CD): In doing videos for RESAN, MANVI GATEW, and MA CHERIE JE T'AIME, did the group get all that they could for the CD? I have already been extremely vocal about them doing a major mistake by not doing a video for the potential mega hit SE PAW MWEN YE with ALAN CAVE; them choosing instead to focus on Olivier Duret's return to the group by doing the video for "Ma Cherie Je T'aime". At the moment it was an understandable business decision; which months later turned out to be a bad move when Olivier left to go do DAT7. I still think that they should have done a video for SE PAW MWEN YE even AFTER Olivier's departure...but hey....

*DISIP GAZZMAN (6 Music videos from their last cd): No one can accuse Gazzman of not pushing his last CD in the visual department. Having said that, that still did not help the group in terms of where they are now on the popularity food chain. Were the videos good enough or not to get his song messages across visually or no? Does it have to do with the material on the CD not being good enough to move the majority of the people; or does it have to do with Gazzman himself and deeper issues regarding how he is being viewed right now on the market? Only time will tell...but SI SE POU VIDEO....He had that part of it locked on point.

*DJAKOUT #1 (2 Music videos so far): This is actually not bad at all from the Djakout camp. With a CD that is barely 1 year old, they already have 2 music videos done from it....The same amount of videos that both Nu Look and Carimi did for their last studio cd IN 2 YEARS. LIBRE D'AIMER is already a huge hit for the group; and in terms of the LIVE BAL numbers...if they could get the NYC market on point....It's safe to say that Djakout is OK right now.

*5 ETWAL (1 Music Video from current CD): They only have 1 music video...but it is a HUGE HIT "My Life". They need one more because they are not yet getting steady gigs that would reflect the popularity of a huge hit. They can be excused because the one that they had started to come after "My Life"; had to be put on the shelf after the departure of their former vocalist Rocher. They still have at least 3 other potential hits, all sung by Ti Lunet, that they can still push visually to help get this CD and band in the right place that they belong. NO WAY THAT 5 ETWAL SHOULD BE WHERE THEY ARE RIGHT NOW...WITH A KICK ASS CD LIKE THIS ONE. Who is to blame for that? TOUT MOUN KI SUSPEK YO....LEVE MAIN NOU!

*ALAN CAVE (0 Music videos from current cd): I must say that I am totally shocked by this. ALAN CAVE, one that can be considered INTERNATIONAL, releases 2 CDS...and after more than 1 year on the market...NO MUSIC VIDEOS HAVE BEEN RELEASED. Only ALAN knows what's good for him, and as long as he keeps getting booked for solo gigs; and like he says, the sales are good on ITUNES; and he continues to pocket that cash to pay his bills...I guess he's good...so if he's good...why should WE THE FANS CARE? Right ALAN? Unbelievable.......

*GABEL (3 music videos from current CD): You already knew that GABEL would not have any issues in doing music videos, so for this one, they already have 3...technically 4 because there are two versions of the same song for the DROG MWEN visual. The GABEL guys think that their mistake in terms of the CD taking a little while to kick into high gear; was releasing it around the world Cup last year. Time is still on their side with this one, so like they say...L'AVENIR DIRA LE RESTE. It's a wait and see attitude still in terms of how the al numbers are going with this one, or....?

*HARMONIK (3 Videos from current CD): With ILLEGAL, DIFERAN, and before that MWEN BOUKE; it is simply hard to believe that this group was pretty much written off as "DEAD" by some people. The last few months have proven those "DEAD" tags to be NOT TRUE because they have gained a bit of fuel/gaz if you will, to show the industry that the group is still there ready to battle its way out of the funk that they were in. A CD who in my opinion with the songs "Bel Ti Moman", "Ou Se", "Mesi", and "Otan"; STILL NOT YET EXPLORED FULLY...could have shaken the industry. Is it too late because it's been out for a minute now; or can they still make it work?

*JBEATZ (3 Music videos from Current CD): A good return so far for a CD that is not that old. Having said that, has JBEATZ already given up on THIS CD, since his last music video was for a song with Wendyy Traka that is NOT even featured on this current CD? Is that a sign that he is now focusing on a new CD SO EARLY...and usually when that happens, it usually means in the eyes of the fans, that the current CD did not do what JBeatz was hoping that it would....IT COULD BE WRONG....but only JBEATZ knows the answer to that.

*KREYOL LA (2 Music videos from current CD): They killed two birds with one stone by dropping the BEFORE AND AFTER/TRIYE double. It's still too early in the game to see what the deal is in terms of how it has worked for Kreyol La. Nap suiv toujou.

*KARIZMA (2 music videos from current cd...even though 1 was released as a single two years ago): The same as in Kreyol La in terms of how it works; the only gripe coming from me is that the music video released was a BAD CHOICE considering the other songs that are on this CD; that could have done a better job at selling or previewing the CD for the group to the fans. We hope that Karizma does not do videos of songs that THEY PERSONALLY LIKE; instead of doing the BUSINESS MOVE of selling THE SONGS THAT ARE EASIER TO SELL TO THE PUBLIC. The jury is still out on this one.

There you have it.....Does it matter or not how many music videos a group does on a CD? Does that determine if that's what makes a band popular on the LIVE circuit or not in terms of having the new songs from a new cd? The answer to tell you honestly, is NOT certain.

KM!
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[HappyMax]

I hate to be a broken record in this forum. Videos extend the life of a music and make them eternal because of the 24/7 everywhere/anywhere access.

At what cost and what is the return? The raison d'être of videos has shifted from functional/musical to an appeal of beauty, movie clip, lifestyle themes, and superb designs where a brand is promoted. Video on Youtube is the new form of website/web presence

Personally, each time I watched a video, it inspired me differently and make me fantasize being a producer in the making by just guessing what I would have done differently if I was in charge of directing it. Therefore, i extend the life of the music. I am not the only one.

Do they help the bands beyond a certain point, we will never know. Are they without financial pain? Certainly not, especially with the new competitive landscape over high quality, durability, and movie theme like in format/style.

I just know I can't stop watching move siyal (Klass), Libre D'aimer (Djakout), Is It Real and Confessions (NuLook), She's a boy (3jes) and many more by all the bands including Tvice who never disappoints in the video area.

There is a minimum of quality of the music (Text/story/melody) that will justify the choice of a song to be selected as video candidate (Klass hit the jackpot in that sense. Nulook, Tvice, Djakout did extremely well with their picks), otherwise, you are forcing the music to someone throat and it will backfire with no return on investment at least no immediate return.

Timing of the song is key also. You have to be right in your order of release. I wondered in the case of Disip if releasing either EKILIB or Urgence videos (2 superb songs, Ekilib being so touching and in sync with our everyday life in Haiti) first instead of Leader or madanm mwen (2 so so songs in my taste) would have made a difference in promoting the CD. Every Saturday when I am blasting Ekilib and Urgence videos and KWE MWEN music from earlier CD, it hurts me that so many nice songs of Disip are not making real dents. Of course, it is easy to comment after the fact. Had Couleur decided Ekilib or Urgence first and Disip is in the same current state, we would have argue now that It was a mistake for not going for the killer instinct (typical of Gazzman..controversial/Fawoucheur) with Leader first

The good news, new bands like Disip or Klass will surely benefit long term as they release more CDs, and boost their repertoire, people will still have time to catch fire via an old song and fall in love with the band. We all want instant results, instant gratification, but it is not always the case. The older bands (Nulook, Tvice, Harmonik, Kreyola, Zenglen and on) should nevertheless under estimate this venue and leave the new guys running wild by having a bigger web presence over time while their rich repertoire is on CD. Catch22...Pick your poison...you bet

We will never know what impact releasing videos has over a band success. All I can say, the videos will last forever and so will our superstars and musicians. At what cost, we will never know.

I also think Klass success has nothing to do with the number of videos. They surely helped, but not that much. It was a love affair with Richie after Klass Version1 and Gazzman-Richie fiasco where the public came to Richie's rescue similar to the world switch for (iphone) and continue to treat Gazzman like Blackberry.
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My future's so bright I've got to wear shades

[shah]

Pat,
Great work on your analysis of those bands in the market. To me a video from a release cd is nothing much then a mouse click on a computer. The product has to be tight in order to capture the dancing audience because that's where the money is: BAL numbers, that's what pays the bills. The question is how many people view the videos and where. The Mother land the French Islands or the US?

The other thing is how well the cd has been promoted by the band management. One of the reason that TVICE can last and still kicking ass in the HMI is because of their business savvy.

Klass is a new breed with new fresh groove with a great team of musicians. Richie in a band, it's almost guaranteed that you will get a good bargain for your money. Although, Klass was on shaky ground at the start, they recover pretty good due to a great product not because of the videos.

Another thing is that the small HMI market is also too saturated with bands which some of them can only emulate the Zouk machine. They need originality. Use what's yours because the zouk musicians use Konpa to create their own.

Lastly, you forgot to mention DOLA, Zenglen, System Band, there are still around. DOLA no video but System Band does.

The impact of videos is not that impressive unless it was the American or the European music industry. My two cents.
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SHAH
The less I say the more I do.