Since recording his first album in 2012 artist Andre Manella, or Sonic Delusion as he is know to his global fan base, has witnessed many changes take place with in the music industry. The convenience of streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify, Youtube and social media have undoubtably made music more accessible to fans, and given artists a much larger radius to promote their music and talent.
Manella, now a full time musician, is one artist who has adapted to the changes in the industry and taken it all in his stride. Setting himself up with a home recording studio over the last few years has allowed Manella to reduce the cost of recording “Studio time is expensive as an artist. I still work with studios to record certain things or to get my music mixed and produced”.
For each single recorded, a music video follows, and Manella believes Taranaki has the capacity to grow even stronger “We’ve got enough talented and creative people, and businesses based in Taranaki that can collaborate on projects like music videos. I love to show off not only our local talent, but also many of the beautiful spots around our region in my videos”
“I want our already great music scene to grow more and Taranaki be know for it's strong music scene around NZ and the talent across the industry its producing”, something Manella would love to see happen to support this further, an original live music venue in New Plymouth opening up for small to medium size gigs.
Regularly on tour across New Zealand, the artist muses that while music venues are always changing around the country , there is always a place to play live music. “ I'd love to see people getting of their TV's and Netflix and start socializing at local gigs more often. Spend you money on a ticket to see a local band is a great way to support the musicians and the venues that host them”
Social media plays and important role now more than ever for musicians, with most of their income coming through their gig bookings and schedules, social media has become the most effective way of advertising their gigs.
Its also now a platform for artist like Manella to engage with his fans and encourage them to be part of and support the local music industry. With his new single “Hey Trouble” from the upcoming album Anything Goes ( May 2019) produced and ready all that’s left is to make the music video. Having received funding from Creative Communities for the project, Manella is calling to action through his Facebook to involve anyone who is keen to gain some experience in producing, filming, editing and acting in his music videos. The only requirement for interested creatives “ I want to keep it real, its all about being authentic and enjoying the positivity of the music!”