Today we’d like to introduce you to Asante Abdullah.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Asante. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Born and raised in Newark, NJ music is in my blood. My grandfather is rockstar Bobby Lewis, a famous 1960’s musician with notable records like Tossin’ & Turnin’ and a lot of my family are very musically inclined. Growing up I sang in school choirs, played the violin, dabbled with the clarinet, & DJ’s in college at Temple University. New World Audience LLC. started as an idea I had about a year after graduation in December of 2017, to simply help independent musicians across all genres connect, collaborate, & expand their reach.
By then, I had already relocated a few times for work, landing me in Austin today, and being so far away from the artist networks I had already made in the Tri-State (NJ, NY, PA), I decided that a digital platform would be my best bet at tapping into my target audience. New World Audience, would soon become much bigger than me.
Having graduated with an International Business Degree & a focus in International Marketing, I quickly set my sights on how I could scale the platform to not only help indie musicians to expand their reach, but to also develop them through the intersectionality of industries under one roof. Those industries being, Film & Media (Content Curation & Branding), BIG Data & Tech (Understanding your Audience), and last but of course first, Music Development (Reach)! New World Audience is now a Film & Media Brand Development Platform for up and coming indie musicians very quickly working towards the aforementioned capabilities.
We officially launched in March of 2019 upon receiving an opportunity to be the film crew for two SXSW Interactive Events for a platform called MVMT50. It’s important to note that at the time, I didn’t have a team when I accepted the opportunities but knew that I couldn’t pass it up! Either I was pure crazy or God was in the room but this ended up being the way I met one of my best friends and soon to be business partner, Kevin Lewis. Relocating from the East Coast himself (Brooklyn), we clicked. A high energy guy with a drive that matched mine & something I hadn’t seen in Austin since my being here! I pitched my vision for the platform to him and he immediately lit up and agreed to join me in building New World Audience.
We had two weeks to assemble a small team that could meet the needs of the client and I was determined. The first event was the $100,000 PITCH BLACK Business Competition for Women of Color hosted by Beautiful Brains & Shea Moisture and the second, The HUE 2019 HAIR AFFAIR hosted by Shea Moisture & Palmers! These were great events and created amazing visibility for the platform. Soon after SXSW, interest began to grow around our purpose, landing us a few more projects with organizations like The Austin Justice Coalition & the Austin Area Urban League Young Professionals. Our first big break would come shortly after our early success, in August.
Tillery Live!, an amazing Artist Showcase that takes place on the East Side of Austin on the first Wednesday of Every Month at Tillery Kitchen & Bar! I was approached by a guy named Steve Hatchett in July about an idea to curate a vibe combining music and a nice venue. The deal was, he would provide me the venue connection he had in exchange for Musicians I knew who could play. Oh, we took it and ran (Ha-ha) Launching our 5th Tillery Live! this December, our showcase will be home to over 25 local musicians to date and has become something special for this community to look forward to every month. We’ve gotten over 300 RSVP’s to date and we don’t plan on slowing down! We’ve partnered with local radio stations KUT/KUTX, the City of Austin’s Cultural Division, the Texas Music Office, & more as promotional partners for this project and are so grateful for their support! This event connects people, helps to preserve so much of the rich culture the community has to offer and also supports so much of the great talent that makes Austin, Austin, the Live Music Capital of the World.
We have our eyes set on 2020 and the opportunity the new year brings! Tillery Live! will be back with more artists, more visual art, and an enhanced experience! We’ve also got a few film projects in the works that will highlight our communities and also how music shapes our communities & the role of the local musician for positive change in there, not only local communities but broader ones as well. There’s also another vibe being curated for the culture so stay tuned, I don’t want to give too much out! 🙂
Has it been a smooth road?
Some of the struggles we’ve had to face include:
Funding for certain projects.
Connecting with entertainment clients who can pay for high quality content & how to scale towards that.
Learning how to simultaneously grow the brand of a business while helping to develop the brands of others (content curators who work on the platform and the artists).
Understanding that this is an industry unlike that of the business world and expecting people to follow up is a tough job within itself. It is hard to get things done in a timely manner when we have to coordinate with so many people who just aren’t accustomed to a world of meetings & deadlines. It’s different, but we’re learning ways around it!
Understanding what data is valuable to an artist and how to collect that data efficiently. How to leverage this capability with businesses as well.
Tell us about your company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
New World Audience LLC is a film and media brand development platform for up and coming independent musicians. Our mission is to illuminate authentic human stories through film, meeting all artists’ brand development, digital media, & design needs with professionalism and expertise. When we say film and media think recorded studio sessions, docu-series, short films, creative event recaps, etc. And when we say brand development we are talking about the in house capabilities we have to enhance the overall branding strategy for an artist, further enabling them to unlock their potential and increase their reach.
As a company, we are most proud of our ability to provide creatives with the professional means to market themselves effectively today in the technologically driven world we live in. Many indie musicians arent getting the visibility they need to sell their art for money that would increase their overall income. A lot of times they don’t know how to garner that reach. We want to be able to indirectly change that narrative through the work we do on the back end to developing the brands of these artists through engaging stories told via creative film & media styles/channels.
What sets us apart is our focus on data and how important that will become in the future. Our focus on being able to understand any audience must be masterful to make the global impact we wish to make one day for indie artists everywhere. We love tech at New World Audience and I think most companies who don’t understand how to properly leverage technology now will undoubtedly get there, and by then we’re saying, we’ll have already been there maximizing the power of some excellent business intelligence tools.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Trends:
1. Growing focus on the indie scene & how larger media companies tap into that with smaller platforms will be a big focus. (Complex, Revolt, Vice, etc.)
2. Technology, AI (Augmented/Artificial Intelligence), & how we leverage data in the music industry to capture & better target more audiences will become more prevalent.
3. Digital Platforms will continue to evolve policies changing the way music is distributed. These policies will favor the promotion of more underground indie talent as the interest in this segment continues to balloon.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.newworldaudience.com
- Phone: 8623007871
- Email: info@newworldaudience.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newworldaudience
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Newworldaudience
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/nwaudience
Image Credit:
Armand Smith (ASM Photos)
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