HipHopWired: Would you consider that to be a breakthrough moment for you as a trendsetter in the tech space?
Leslie: Yes, and I’ve taken everything that I’ve learned from that experience and reapplied it. Technology has really developed a lot since then and become more accessible and affordable. So any artist that is not adopting these strategies for success and building their infrastructure will cease to be successful in the future. That is the mantra of my new company, Disruptive Multimedia. It’s going to set the standard for the way the music business should operate in the future.
HipHopWired: Can you elaborate on that a little more?
Leslie: The function of the brand is to provide a platform for artists to finally take control of the relationship they have with their fans. Up to this point, what we found is that when artists have a product to sell, they’re using third parties whether it’s Instagram, FaceBook or YouTube to own and manage their relationship with their fan base. We’ve created a system that allows us to use all of the best technology that exists, put it all together as an ecosystem for artists to finally own their relationship with their fans in a very direct way.
HipHopWired: How exactly does that work?
Leslie: I basically created an address book separate from my personal one, of every single person who supported my last album. I know them by name, I know where they live, and any other information they’ve chosen to share with me, so I can provide them with better service as an artist, better feedback, and better customer service. Whether it comes to tickets, album sales, downloads, merchandise, whatever it is I can provide the highest level of customer service by owning the relationship with every single supporter. That’s really what the concept or the idea behind Disruptive Multimedia is.
HipHopWired: Has there been any push back from fans about giving up their personal information?
Leslie: Here’s the thing, if you’re buying my record you’re giving it to somebody anyway—Amazon, Apple, etc. So if you can do that with them; why wouldn’t you want to do it with me so you can be counted on the roll call of people who actually supported Ryan’s new album? All I’m asking people to do is to buy directly from me and get iTunes out of my pocket. They didn’t pay me any money to make my record; but they get $3 a record from me. I’m not interested in that, I’m interested in people. If they actually want to support me, I’m interested in acknowledging them directly. Unfortunately when you buy on iTunes you’re anonymous to an artist and there’s no way for me to thank you.
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