Over the last few years, I've been super blessed to have my "voice" increasingly heard on a bunch of issues I really care about. Given that this is an election year for half the planet, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon & run my own 2012 campaign. Fortunately this one is not for elected office, so you won't need to see my birth certificate (FYI I was totally born in Africa).
Over the next 50 weeks, with a little help from my friends, I'm launching a campaign to give away a million downloads of music from my latest album AFropolitan. It will be the biggest Christmas present I've ever given & there's no way in heck I can do it alone. That's where YOU come in. So before we go any further, here are a few answers to some of the questions you might have:
Q: Why are you GIVING away music?
A: Because I wrote it to express my feelings about the state of the world we live in today, and I want you to hear it.
Q: But you're giving it away for free! Isn't that crraaazzy?!
A: Artists don't make money selling music. Record labels do. Musicians make money doing shows, licensing music, building endorsements & children's sneaker lines and all kinds of other cool things that tend to be more effective the more people are listening to the music you're making.
Q: But wouldn't you rather people BUY your music?
A: Mmmm, I'm not going to "prevent" you from buying it, that's certainly a nice vote of confidence. But I'd really much prefer you downloaded & SHARED it with someone you dig, because music is meant to be consumed together.
Q: Together? What are you some kind of communist?
A: No, but seriously think about it - historically the only way you could hear music was to go out and listen to someone playing it live, because for the bulk of human history the technology didn't exist to record & replay music. As such if you went to hear music, at the very least there had to be you and the musician there...together. Furthermore, music is not something we could do "separately" prior to the advent of the Walkman. If I'm playing one song outloud, you realistically can't be playing another or we'll both quickly go crazy. So human beings evolved with music as a phenomenon that was fundamentally about togetherness. But we don't necessarily listen to it that way anymore.
I want to get back to the basics. And that means I want all my friends & fans listening to these songs together, sharing them with loved ones, talking about them with people who care about music, and hopefully thinking about the meaning in what they're hearing.
Q: Do you have a subversive socio-political agenda in doing this?
A: Yes
Q: What is it?
A: Download the music. You'll figure it out. (NB. Do NOT play it backwards. No seriously, it won't sound good)
Q: Can I join your Campaign to get you umm..."elected"?
A: Hell yes, young Paduwan. Just Sign Up here & we'll tell you how you can be down w/ the coolest kids in town as we raise a lil righteous hell. If you're picked to participate, it can take as little as 15mins/wk.
Q: Well is there anything else we should know?
A: Uh...probably, but I don't feel like typing anymore so I'm a' cut & paste. See below...
DOWNLOAD & SHARE!!!
D.N.A
THE MILLION DOWNLOAD CAMPAIGN.
You wanna be down? Download. www.derrickashong.com
Today is the day we launch the THE MILLION DOWNLOAD* CAMPAIGN to:
- Connect the world through the electrifying, consciousness-raising sounds of Derrick N Ashong & Soulfège's new album, AFropolitan.
- "Break a band" without a corporate label.
- Change the music industry.
How: DOWNLOAD the album and then use Social Media, Email, www.derrickashong.com and Your Voice to get 10 of your closest friends to DOWNLOAD it and then get 10 of their closest friends to DOWNLOAD it, and then get 10 of their closest friends to DOWNLOAD it, and so on, until we reach 1,000,000 DOWNLOADS.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 4:56PM 
