Calabash Music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Calabash Music is an online music company that was established in 2001 by Brad Powell. Calabash Music is currently based in Somerville, Massachusetts. Its goal, as quoted from the website, is to provide the listener access to "talented musicians across the globe," as well as to help "independent artists sell directly to the listener."
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[edit] Music
Calabash Music uses an "equal exchange" revenue share. When Calabash sells its music, the company keeps half the money from each sale and gives the other half to the artist, included the mechanical rights, which means that the artist has to manage and pay the mechanical rights. All of the music in the catalog is licensed from independent artists or small, independent labels.
[edit] Catalogue
Currently, Calabash contains one of the most diverse music catalogues on the web. There are more than 130 genres, ranging from the well known (R&B, or salsa) to the obscure (Morna, or San Jarocho). The current top downloads are from Tinariwen, Bilal, Thomas Mapfumo, and Sara Tavares.
Notable artists that Calabash currently has direct licenses with include Omar Sosa, Thomas Mapfumo, and Ashley Maher.
[edit] Licensing
There are two ways that Calabash licenses artists. Many artists that Calabash sells music for do not have the resources or desire to sign with a record label. In this common situation, a direct contact with the artist is made. Calabash prides itself in being able to fairly represent artists that in many cases would be ignored or ripped off by a major record label.
The second way that Calabash licenses artists is via small independent labels. Calabash has recognized that the high prices of CDs are not only a deterrent to potential buyers, but also an injustice to many artists themselves, as it is often the record label (not the artists) that reap most of the profit. For these reasons, Calabash has persistently made a push to give fair representation to signed and unsigned artists through a non-exclusive license.
[edit] Web Logs
On top of individual pages for each artists, Calabash also maintains several blogs.
[edit] Global Music Videos
The Calabash Global Music Videos blog is constantly updated with new videos from artists around the world. Most videos are from artists that Calabash has a license to sell music for, although a few are not represented on the website.
[edit] Global Music News
The Calabash Global Music News Blog is designed to keep readers up to date on developments in the global world music community.
[edit] Free Single Blog
Every week, Calabash offers a different free single from an artist represented on the website. The Free Single Blog tracks the new weekly single, as well as provides information regarding the artist's other work.
[edit] Tune Your World Campaign
Calabash has launched a new campaign entitled 'Tune Your World.' The aim of the campaign is to give aid to Africa through the support of African Artists. Even in its recent inception, the program has been met with success. The following is Calabash's statement of the campaign.
[edit] Calabash Statement
Do you believe we can change the world through music?
In the United States our foreign-aid programs do not support our belief that we are a nation known for its good works around the world. The public believes we spend a great deal more money helping other countries than we actually do. Polls suggest that most Americans think the federal government spends about 10 to 15 percent of its budget on foreign aid. (see this survey conducted by the Program for International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland)
The truth is that we spend less than 1%, the lowest of any industrialized nation.
All of sub-Saharan Africa receives just over $1 billion per year from the US in economic aid. If everyone in the United States gave up one soft drink a month we could double our current aid to Africa. If everyone gave up one movie a year we could double our current aid to Africa and Asia.
We have an even better idea: If every American would buy 10 songs by African Artists -- We would DOUBLE the amount of money the US is currently sending to Africa.
Where does the money go? At least 50% (in some cases 100%) of your purchase will go to African Artists, or an African relief NGO and stay in Africa. Together we can create a thriving music economy in places where the music industry has never worked very well. A cultural economy that will support future generations with a vision of possibility. We are starting in Africa and we will be moving to other parts of the world as our work progresses.
How can you make this change happen? 1. Buy 10 songs by African Artists.
2. Forward the URL - www.tuneyourworld.com to all your friends and invite them to join this project.
3. If you are an Artist! Please forward the URL - www.tuneyourworld.com to your fan base. Let us know about good work that you are doing with your music and we'll feature it as part of our 'Tune Your World' campaign. And let us know about any other great music projects.
It's that simple - Tune Your World.
We've designated the following African musicians and music projects whose good works stand out:
1. Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars
The Refugee All Stars were formed by singer Reuben Koroma and guitarist Francis "Franco" Langba who were living in the Kalia refugee camp in Guinea with other Sierra Leoneans who had fled civil war back home. "I had nothing to do," recalled Reuben. "In the morning, I would go to the center were all the refugees would just be talking. I saw that many people were not happy. I thought: If I start to play music here, people will really feel well." A Canadian NGO provided the band with PA gear so they could tour to other camps and raise spirits there. The music was helping to build community in the camps, drawing people to meetings where they could discuss their circumstances and options.
2. Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project
ASAP is an all-star compilation of some the hottest overground and underground Afrobeat artists today, including Tony Allen (ft. Fela Kuti), Antibalas, and many others. 100% of the procedes from this recordings will benefit the people suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan. We all hope that this project will also raise awareness about the dire situation in Darfur: by some estimates, over 400,000 people have died by dehydration, disease, and at the hands of the Janjaweed -- armed horsemen supported by the government of Sudan.
3. Stop Excision Project
If you want to change the lives of women in Mali then buy all the songs from the remarkable Stop Excision collection. 100% of all proceeds from the sale of these downloads goes to the Stop Excision project helping to eliminate FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) in Mali. "We can't avoid lots of bad things," sings Kandia Kouyate in Bambara, "But we can avoid a lot of pain if we stop excising our daughters." Stop Excision is a recording of Malian artists singing anti-excision and pro-women's rights songs.
4. Zola
Zola has emerged as the superstar of South African Kwaito. He grew up in Soweto in the ghetto called Zola. He currently produces a television program called 'the Ghetto Dream Maker', where he makes peoples dreams come through every week. Recently the show has moved across Africa traveling to Botswana, Nigeria, Lesotho, Namibia to make the dreams of Africa come true! Zola comments, "Kwaito kids are made from hunger, abuse, no father, violence, guns. Now as adults we must change the game for the better. Now we must change everything we are made from".
5. The Mutubambile Orphan Choir
Featuring Zimbawean singer/songwriter Oliver Mtukudzi, these beautiful songs of the choir call attention to the national problem posed by the many orphans left by HIV & Aids every year. The collaboration resulted in a 12-song collection that will contribute to helping the orphans complete their education.
[edit] Relationship With National Geographic
Recently, National Geographic partnered up with Calabash Music (as well as the Public Radio International show, Afropop Worldwide, the satellite channel LinkTV, and Global Rhythm magazine) to launch its worldmusic store. The partnership places independent artists and labels in Calabash Music's catalog in front of the 10 million monthly NationalGeographic.com users, and is expected to help drive increased sales and exposure for these artists.
Calabash Music is now the main content provider for the National Geographic corporation. Like Calabash Music, National Geographic World Music allows users to access music by artist, region or genre.
