Tecnobrega shows off an open business model

Belém do Pará is a city in the very north region of Brazil close to equatorial line. There, everywhere you go you’ll find a sign of Tecnobrega, which is a music style that leads an open business model in Pará.

In Brazil, the major industry is set in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, in the southeast of the Country. In contrast to the expectation that everything new takes place in Rio and São Paulo, it’s in the outskirts of Brazilian economic centre that innovative ideas have come up and become reality. Observing the markets in other states one may learn much about making business, particularly open business.

That’s why the Centre of Technology and Society decided to have a field researcher in Belém do Pará. Alessandra has been visiting the centre as well as the outskirts of the city, attending parties and concerts and interviewing the agents involved in the market.

By joining her in daily activities, you might be positively surprised with such big parties, full of people dancing nonstop, all of them amazed with the huge physical structure named “aparelhagem”, built with all latest technological equipments for music, lights, video displays and others. Unlike regular fans who admire the artists (might be composers, musicians or DJs), in Belém, people are enthusiasts for aparelhagens – the material that reminds you of a flying disc, where DJs brings the crowd to a frenzy.

These structures, usually owned by families, are key agents in this business. Tecnobrega musicians give away their copyrights in exchange for having their music distributed and played in events promoted by aparelhagens. This is how they become famous, and they can then make money out of gigs and of the sale of CDs and DVDs copied and sold by themselves in events.

In this context, of giving away copyrights for distribution, you might find artists saying “piracy helps us”. They would take a copy of their CD to local radios called “cipó”, (whose reach is very small – only a couple of blocks) which do not charge the artist for playing their songs. They would see illegal copies of their CDs on street vendor desks and ask if they have been in high demand. It’s not a question of having no concerns about intellectual property rights. It’s a matter of strategy. Would they meet their objectives if they relied only on the mainstream industry?

Obviously, it’s not all harmony in the scene. Conflicts of interests, contrast between powerful and established against exploited and new comer agents, all normal life components take place in this field.

The expectation is to have, in a couple of months, a clearer picture of how this market operates. Observing initiatives out of the economic centre is crucial for a deeper and broader understanding about new ways of making business.

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