leo morel rio de janeiro carnival music scene and music career development 01-08-2014
TRANSCRIPT
Leo Morel – 01/08/14
NYU and FGV Workshop: Emerging Models and Markets for Music
Rio de Janeiro Carnival Music Scene and Music Career Development
Rio de Janeiro Carnival music scene
2 scenes
Sambódromo Street Carnival
Rio de Janeiro Carnival music scene
• It attracts 900 thousand tourists per year;
• It makes 650 million dollars in revenues.
(source: Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry – ABIH)
“The Biggest Spectacle on Earth”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRBLROPGIDs
Samba Schools
• 20 Samba Schools compete for a 2.2 million real award
(US$812,000.00)
• The Samba Parade is a really glorious competition for which the scores are given by the judges. It offers entertainment while it has its rigid rules.
Samba Schools
• Each Samba School has 90 minutes to parade;
• 2,500 to 4,000 members;
• 300 percussionists.
Samba Schools
The Rio samba Schools are similar to huge soccer teams, in many aspects. They have a flag, a color-scheme and devoted (usually life-long) supporters. They clearly resemble modern corporate organizations, with several departments, sub-divisions, strategic partnerships and apply strong marketing technics.
Sambódromo numbers
• Boxes cost from R$30,000 (US$11,000) to R$120,000 (US$44,500) a day;
• Grandstand tickets cost from R$10.00(US$3.6) to R$6,500(US$2,400);
• It holds 70 thousand people;
Samba Schools
• High levels of logistics expertise;
• Constant search for innovation;
Live performances
• Company parties
• Weddings
• New Years Eve Concerts
CDs
Street Carnival
• Non-competitive goals;• Parades are free;• Cordão do Bola Preta
attracts 1.5 million people;
• 600 percussion ensembles (blocos)
Monobloco
The biggest percussion ensemble
(bloco) from Rio’s street carnival.
Monobloco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx8m79aPAqQ
Monobloco
• It is the subject of my second book: a biography in celebration of its 15th anniversary.
• Its mascot is a combination of Lego and Bibendum.
Crowdfunding campaign
The beginning
Created in 2000 from a percussion workshop, Monobloco became one of the biggest percussion ensembles in Brazil, with an international career.
Monobloco
Its innovative model has differentiated Monoblocofrom the other blocos, thus becoming a huge success in Rio’s street Carnival.
Monobloco
Firstly, it differs from the others because it has formed its own drum section. The older blocosused to hire professional musicians, mostly from Samba Schools.
Monobloco
This musical formation was set up at a percussion workshop focused on people who did not wish to become professional musicians. This workshop became an important income source for Monobloco.
Monobloco
It is the first example of the professionalization process of a Rio de Janeiro’s percussion ensemble.
Monobloco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0EAwi3_mY4
Monobloco
Its repertory is made up of music of several styles and rhythms, not only samba. This was also novel and attracted lots of people, mostly young ones.
“Alagados”
Paralamas do Sucesso Monobloco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfi9K97ulmE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaC3gsE2_j0
Monobloco
It spontaneously became a huge hit of Rio’s street Carnival, and demand for its live performances started to grow. Monobloco then went on, giving live concerts.
Phonographic Market
Monobloco got inserted into the phonographic market without using traditional media to promote its work.
People started consuming its music in large scale.
Monobloco
• Promotes its own paid events to fund its open parade.
• The parade costs 700,000 reais
(US$257,000)
Monobloco
Today, Monobloco has an international career, having performed in several countries, such as Japan, Mexico, England, Australia and New Zealand.
Monobloco
Monobloco was selected to record Coca-Cola's official soundtrack for the 2014 World Cup.
Monobloco
It also did the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour, performing in several countries, such as Guatemala, Mexico and Japan, together with local artists.
Changing the subject
Music and Technology
The impact of technological innovation on music production, promotion and consumption.
Brazil’s digital music market is still in its formation stage
• Itunes began operating in Brazil in 2012.
• Streaming services have recently started in Brazil.
• How are Brazilian artists dealing with this new era?
• These artists are positioned at different Brazilian market segments.
• It is a landmark moment for the Brazilian music business.
Geraldo Azevedo
He is a musician and composer who has gained prominence in the Brazilian music scene, starting at the beginning of the 1970s with his music that mixes Northeastern and Caribbean rhythms with lyrical influences.
Geraldo Azevedo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCzH6dvhc2w
Geraldo Azevedo
Azevedo, who was one of the owners of EstudioDiscovery, commented the impact of technological innovation on music production: “Today (only) one or two of them (major studios) are needed; there is no more market for them, as everybody has a home studio. And you record very well at home these days.”
Geraldo Azevedo - career development
Geraldo Azevedo stated that, even though he has consolidated his professional career, he has problems administrating his own work: “I release an album every year, so the difficulty I have is financial: you must invest in your work when it is independent. I have never found anybody that would bankroll a project of mine.”
Geraldo Azevedo - Piracy
“I don’t even know what piracy is or isn’t anymore. What was once pirated on a cassette, today is digitally pirated on a CD with perfect sound: there is no difference in quality. All this is free promotion for me, even piracy promotes. However, it is negative, as it violates copyright. At the same time, it gives your work more margin for success; this can’t be denied.”
Market changes – political issues
“The dictatorship (1964-1985) was a fact that changed the cultural history of Brazil in the sense of concepts, the press, and the news. Many artistswent from being successful to living clandestinely. I personally went through the process of being imprisoned, and others even left the country. All thisradically changed Brazilian music. The dictatorship blocked that music business and opened the international market with a bunch of alien trends. It was a difficult story for us. ” (Geraldo Azevedo)
Cálice
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tfKKM4lLhw
• Technological innovations change the music market;
• Political issues change it too.
Cálice - metaphor
Cup
• “Pai, afaste de mim essecálice.”
• “Pai”comes from Pátria(Homeland)
• Homeland, put this “gag" away from me.
Cale-se
• “Shut-up” / gag
Geraldo Azevedo
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgeF4V_NsbE
Leoni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bhzMyId45o
Leoni
This musician and composer was a key figure in the Brazilian music scene in the 1980s as the leader of the band Kid Abelha e os AboborasSelvagems
Leoni
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgazSIxzCJQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ADiPFjNHo
Leoni – Music Market
"The world ended. That world that I knew, Kid Abelha had a record label that contracted it, recorded its album, invested money in its support, and got cuts from the album played on the radio. This world ended, selling albums doesn’t make money anymore.”
Leoni - portability
"People think that the music market crisis had to do with physical counterfeiting, mainly in Brazil, and with digital piracy, on the Internet, but I guess that it has had more to do with the new ways of listening to music, with portability."
Leoni – illegal downloads
"People want to use mp3 in their players. For this, a person doesn’t need to buy products, they can be downloaded. And this creates a new model: one of cheap music, almost for free. It is difficult to recover from this. ”
Crowdfunding campaign
R$135,332 = US$50,000
Jay Vaquer - Born in transition
A musician who had lived through the transition between the decline of the old centralized record-sales based industry model and the explosive growth of the new, decentralized, Internet-based, one.
Jay Vaquer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A1UcArL3ms
Jay Vaquer - radio
He affirms that it is still the radio stations that dictate what is going to be a hit or not on the market and says the record company executives are very influenced by what is happening on this communications medium.
Forfun: bringing new methods of work
Best Band of VMB in 2009, this band, which has been gaining followers throughout Brazil, promotes itself exclusively over the Internet.
Forfun was a record breaker in Brazil’s crowdfunding initiative
US$70,000
Dead Fish - a new record breaker in Brazil’s crowdfunding
US$96,000
“We built our own record label with other financial standards and with other beliefs also. We built a base and, from that, everything came: press agent, TV agent, etc.” (DaniloCutrim)
”I am not going to be a hypocrite: to have your music playing on the radio and TV is very cool, isn’t it? Furthermore, it generates much interest and influence. We still feel the effect that TV and radio have if you are playing at a big festival. They still make a big difference.“
Brazil bears a cultural peculiarity, which is its strong links with traditional media. This occurs at the same time when Brazilians comprise one of the biggest social network user groups, second only to the USA in access to platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, for example.
More information at http://leomorel.wordpress.com
