Talk about knowing where your audience is. This story out of South Africa is truly inspiring. Local musicians weren’t getting anywhere approaching radio, so what did they do? Went straight to the people, meaning the Taxi drivers that play a huge role in the daily transportation of millions of South Africans.

…the new Kwaito artists couldn’t get any airplay on the local radio stations, they decided to take their music to the people by using the hundreds of township taxis to promote their music. Smart thinking given a recent Pretoria University study estimated that between five and 10 million South Africans use taxis every day.

Taxi stands or Kombis, are the main source of public transportation in South African townships, since many residents can’t afford to own cars. Taxi drivers played a pivotal role in breaking new Kwaito artists by playing and selling their CDs to their captive taxi audience. (Via BoingBoing)

Check out this video for the whole story, but this is a great example of how by knowing where your audience is you can go around the traditional methods of the music business.

Music Consciousness
Voyno