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| Erykah Badu Is Blazing a New Trail (From Badubotron) | Erykah Badu Is Blazing a New Trail (From Badubotron) |
| (3 days later) | |
| Erykah Badu has always been a boss, but now she’s closer to a CEO. When the Covid-19 pandemic halted concerts and the music industry scrambled to adapt, the iconoclastic neo-soul singer and songwriter created a new artistic and business model, creating her own interactive streaming network less than two weeks after the country began shutting down this spring. | Erykah Badu has always been a boss, but now she’s closer to a CEO. When the Covid-19 pandemic halted concerts and the music industry scrambled to adapt, the iconoclastic neo-soul singer and songwriter created a new artistic and business model, creating her own interactive streaming network less than two weeks after the country began shutting down this spring. |
| “I’ve been touring for eight months out of the year for 22 years. This is the way that I had made my money,” Badu said. She had family to take care of, and crew that have been part of her team for two decades. So she created a high-production, interactive live show from her home (The Quarantine Concert Series: Apocalypse, Live From Badubotron), charging fans $1 to watch. And then she did it twice more, charging a little more each time — three increasingly elaborate livestreamed performances in the space of a month, with costume and lighting changes, and fans voting on the set list and even what room she would perform in. In the last concert, she and her musicians appeared to be inside clear giant bubbles. | “I’ve been touring for eight months out of the year for 22 years. This is the way that I had made my money,” Badu said. She had family to take care of, and crew that have been part of her team for two decades. So she created a high-production, interactive live show from her home (The Quarantine Concert Series: Apocalypse, Live From Badubotron), charging fans $1 to watch. And then she did it twice more, charging a little more each time — three increasingly elaborate livestreamed performances in the space of a month, with costume and lighting changes, and fans voting on the set list and even what room she would perform in. In the last concert, she and her musicians appeared to be inside clear giant bubbles. |
| “Every day and night, I was working and moving and experimenting and learning from mistakes quickly and fixing them,” she said. According to a spokeswoman, over 100,000 people tuned in. And now she doesn’t even miss being on the road: “A little piece of me dies every time I have to leave my home.” | “Every day and night, I was working and moving and experimenting and learning from mistakes quickly and fixing them,” she said. According to a spokeswoman, over 100,000 people tuned in. And now she doesn’t even miss being on the road: “A little piece of me dies every time I have to leave my home.” |
| The process energized Badu, 49, a mother of three who lives in Dallas, where she’s also a doula. “All of a sudden, I’ve been resurrected in some kind of way with new ideas and thoughts and releases of things that I didn’t even know I was holding onto,” she said. She had already started to branch out, in February, with her website Badu World Market, which offers merchandise — the Badu vagina-scented incense immediately sold out — and female-centered community. She plans to launch an apothecary line there next, and she’s taking classes to learn how to code. | The process energized Badu, 49, a mother of three who lives in Dallas, where she’s also a doula. “All of a sudden, I’ve been resurrected in some kind of way with new ideas and thoughts and releases of things that I didn’t even know I was holding onto,” she said. She had already started to branch out, in February, with her website Badu World Market, which offers merchandise — the Badu vagina-scented incense immediately sold out — and female-centered community. She plans to launch an apothecary line there next, and she’s taking classes to learn how to code. |
| In a recent video interview from her living room (thronelike chair from India, D.J. setup, a Nefertiti sculpture wearing sunglasses and headphones, a fireplace with an eternal flame), Badu described her vision for a new livestream company. She ate dinner during the conversation, which started with dessert, a homemade lemon-lime-agave Popsicle. And she showed off the notebooks that she uses to catalog her ideas: a black Moleskin, and another, replete with color-coded tabs, that was a vintage spelling book. “Because what I’m doing is, I’m casting spells, girl.” | In a recent video interview from her living room (thronelike chair from India, D.J. setup, a Nefertiti sculpture wearing sunglasses and headphones, a fireplace with an eternal flame), Badu described her vision for a new livestream company. She ate dinner during the conversation, which started with dessert, a homemade lemon-lime-agave Popsicle. And she showed off the notebooks that she uses to catalog her ideas: a black Moleskin, and another, replete with color-coded tabs, that was a vintage spelling book. “Because what I’m doing is, I’m casting spells, girl.” |
| These are edited excerpts from the conversation. | These are edited excerpts from the conversation. |
| How did you come up with this idea? | How did you come up with this idea? |
| First thing we had to figure out was what am I, besides this touring artist? And I quickly found out that I was many more things. It all came simple to me really quickly, as if I had been downloading the program through the Matrix. | First thing we had to figure out was what am I, besides this touring artist? And I quickly found out that I was many more things. It all came simple to me really quickly, as if I had been downloading the program through the Matrix. |
| Take me through the technical setup. | Take me through the technical setup. |
| I didn’t want to just put a phone on a tripod. I had to keep up my team’s morale and keep them employed. I wanted the user to be able to interactively choose which songs we sing. When you’re in the studio, you’re perfecting a moment — you get to go back and fix it. But when you’re doing something live, you’re creating a moment and delivering it at once, and I wanted the audience to feel like their money not only got them into the show, but they also got to help create the moment. | I didn’t want to just put a phone on a tripod. I had to keep up my team’s morale and keep them employed. I wanted the user to be able to interactively choose which songs we sing. When you’re in the studio, you’re perfecting a moment — you get to go back and fix it. But when you’re doing something live, you’re creating a moment and delivering it at once, and I wanted the audience to feel like their money not only got them into the show, but they also got to help create the moment. |
| I had to get a truck to broaden the bandwidth of my house. All the neighbors had high-speed internet for a couple of weeks because of it. I was the director, the producer, the music director, co-technical director, and I was also the switcher. I had a little iPad on the side switching camera angles as I went. We had four cameras. [Camera] A was right in front of me. B was behind me on a tripod that could swivel left and right. C was right above the whole group, like a good bubble-eyed viewpoint, and then there was one on the musicians and singers. | I had to get a truck to broaden the bandwidth of my house. All the neighbors had high-speed internet for a couple of weeks because of it. I was the director, the producer, the music director, co-technical director, and I was also the switcher. I had a little iPad on the side switching camera angles as I went. We had four cameras. [Camera] A was right in front of me. B was behind me on a tripod that could swivel left and right. C was right above the whole group, like a good bubble-eyed viewpoint, and then there was one on the musicians and singers. |
| I can tell you like directing. | I can tell you like directing. |
| I’ve been directing since I was 3. First it was the teddy bears. Then it was the neighbor kids. Then it was the kids in the church. | I’ve been directing since I was 3. First it was the teddy bears. Then it was the neighbor kids. Then it was the kids in the church. |
| What’s the status of your plan to start a livestream company? | What’s the status of your plan to start a livestream company? |
| My livestream company project is very much underway. It’s ambitious, but I think I can do it. I think I can help artists build a platform very similar to mine where everything lives there. We are driving all the traffic to our socials, to our chat rooms, to our merchandise, and to our art, whether it’s performance art or comedy or visual art or fashion. We don’t have to abandon our other social media outlets, but we can incorporate them into our worlds and in ways that make it very easy for the user. | My livestream company project is very much underway. It’s ambitious, but I think I can do it. I think I can help artists build a platform very similar to mine where everything lives there. We are driving all the traffic to our socials, to our chat rooms, to our merchandise, and to our art, whether it’s performance art or comedy or visual art or fashion. We don’t have to abandon our other social media outlets, but we can incorporate them into our worlds and in ways that make it very easy for the user. |
| I’m also trying to convince the user or the audience that it’s OK to pay the artist directly. Because they’re so used to using the streaming services to do that, and we only get pennies [from the services]. But we’re also living in an era where capitalism is one of the enemies. So you have to be very careful to not become something that you didn’t intend to become. | I’m also trying to convince the user or the audience that it’s OK to pay the artist directly. Because they’re so used to using the streaming services to do that, and we only get pennies [from the services]. But we’re also living in an era where capitalism is one of the enemies. So you have to be very careful to not become something that you didn’t intend to become. |
| You’ve said that the minimal fee you were initially charging is not sustainable. Have you landed on a better way to price this? | You’ve said that the minimal fee you were initially charging is not sustainable. Have you landed on a better way to price this? |
| I’m coming up with that, and I’m coming up also with the energy to be comfortable with that. Maybe a monthly fee is better than a one-time fee. It’s very important for us to be focused and organized right now, and also having places to release feelings of guilt and the feelings of suppression and pain and distance. And a lot of those things are released through music. Just creating the right vibration around the market will help people understand why it’s valuable to us at all. | I’m coming up with that, and I’m coming up also with the energy to be comfortable with that. Maybe a monthly fee is better than a one-time fee. It’s very important for us to be focused and organized right now, and also having places to release feelings of guilt and the feelings of suppression and pain and distance. And a lot of those things are released through music. Just creating the right vibration around the market will help people understand why it’s valuable to us at all. |
| Did you make any money from your streamed shows? | Did you make any money from your streamed shows? |
| I made a little bit more each time. Basically, I just wanted to be able to keep those [staff] people paid, to break even and make sure that I didn’t, you know, make any foolish purchases. And I also wanted to make sure that this model could actually work. Now that I know it can actually work, I know what I need to do to be profitable with it. | I made a little bit more each time. Basically, I just wanted to be able to keep those [staff] people paid, to break even and make sure that I didn’t, you know, make any foolish purchases. And I also wanted to make sure that this model could actually work. Now that I know it can actually work, I know what I need to do to be profitable with it. |
| Do you track the data? Do you know where people are watching from, for example? | Do you track the data? Do you know where people are watching from, for example? |
| Definitely. We are very keen on checking the data and the stats. We know the demographic and the age group and the geographical places where we’re more welcomed. My following has had a steady pace. I perform to the congregation, pretty much. I was just surprised to see how many other people were watching, excited for us. | Definitely. We are very keen on checking the data and the stats. We know the demographic and the age group and the geographical places where we’re more welcomed. My following has had a steady pace. I perform to the congregation, pretty much. I was just surprised to see how many other people were watching, excited for us. |
| You recently did a live show at Dave Chappelle’s house. But we’re still probably months out from regular gigs. What did you miss about tour shows? | You recently did a live show at Dave Chappelle’s house. But we’re still probably months out from regular gigs. What did you miss about tour shows? |
| I didn’t miss it. I’ve always wanted to perform from my bed at home. I’m the laziest artist probably in Dallas. I never wanted to do the packing and going through the car and luggage and the hotel and, “What’s the password? What’s the internet?” You get tired after years and years of doing it, you know? | I didn’t miss it. I’ve always wanted to perform from my bed at home. I’m the laziest artist probably in Dallas. I never wanted to do the packing and going through the car and luggage and the hotel and, “What’s the password? What’s the internet?” You get tired after years and years of doing it, you know? |
| Updated August 17, 2020 | |
| I enjoyed the moment when the audience and the artist become one living, breathing organism, when the band and I are locked in. I miss that synergy and energy between me and the audience. But I found a new way to express that, and it doesn’t take its place. It just evolved it to another place. | I enjoyed the moment when the audience and the artist become one living, breathing organism, when the band and I are locked in. I miss that synergy and energy between me and the audience. But I found a new way to express that, and it doesn’t take its place. It just evolved it to another place. |
| You had a poster of Yoko Ono above your bed in one of the streams. Is she a meaningful artist to you? | You had a poster of Yoko Ono above your bed in one of the streams. Is she a meaningful artist to you? |
| Very much so. I thought about her a whole lot during 2010 when I did the “Window Seat” video [in which Badu disrobes on a walk through Dallas, and then mimes being shot]. I thought about all of the female performance artists who used nudity as a political statement to bring attention to an important issue or a passion that they had or something that they needed to erupt. | Very much so. I thought about her a whole lot during 2010 when I did the “Window Seat” video [in which Badu disrobes on a walk through Dallas, and then mimes being shot]. I thought about all of the female performance artists who used nudity as a political statement to bring attention to an important issue or a passion that they had or something that they needed to erupt. |
| You know how you call on deities? Well, for me, it was Yoko and it was Josephine Baker and Nina Simone and many others — Ana Mendieta. Lots of visual artists and women who take risks to make these statements, even though they know that they will most likely be misunderstood, because they’re generally ahead of their peers or time. But brave enough to still take those walks. And those women walked with me. | You know how you call on deities? Well, for me, it was Yoko and it was Josephine Baker and Nina Simone and many others — Ana Mendieta. Lots of visual artists and women who take risks to make these statements, even though they know that they will most likely be misunderstood, because they’re generally ahead of their peers or time. But brave enough to still take those walks. And those women walked with me. |
| Do you feel like you’re reaching a different height with this project? | Do you feel like you’re reaching a different height with this project? |
| For myself as a creative, yes. There’s nothing like human beings and real breaths and eye contact and hearing your voice reverberate off the back wall of the club, come back at you and hit you in the jugular. Nothing like that. There’s nothing like D.J.’ing at a club and having all the people at the same time’s heart rates go up when we hear a song from our childhood that we loved, or when a guest walks onstage and everyone goes crazy because they didn’t expect them. | For myself as a creative, yes. There’s nothing like human beings and real breaths and eye contact and hearing your voice reverberate off the back wall of the club, come back at you and hit you in the jugular. Nothing like that. There’s nothing like D.J.’ing at a club and having all the people at the same time’s heart rates go up when we hear a song from our childhood that we loved, or when a guest walks onstage and everyone goes crazy because they didn’t expect them. |
| But there’s also nothing like performing and filming and creating and delivering something in the same moment. And when you can pull that off successfully, everybody has to be on point in the room — all of the camera people, all of the musicians, myself as a bandleader and a director. We are performing a two- to three-hour live music video, and everything has to be on cue. Everybody just exhales after it’s over, and we are just all quiet. We did it. | But there’s also nothing like performing and filming and creating and delivering something in the same moment. And when you can pull that off successfully, everybody has to be on point in the room — all of the camera people, all of the musicians, myself as a bandleader and a director. We are performing a two- to three-hour live music video, and everything has to be on cue. Everybody just exhales after it’s over, and we are just all quiet. We did it. |
| As a woman of color in a white male-dominated industry, do you think owning your own platform, and asking to be paid what you’re worth, directly, is revolutionary and challenging in its own right? | As a woman of color in a white male-dominated industry, do you think owning your own platform, and asking to be paid what you’re worth, directly, is revolutionary and challenging in its own right? |
| Oh yeah. If I was doing a live show anyway, I’m going to get paid what I’m worth at this time in my career. I had to build that reputation from February 1997 [when “Baduizm” was released] to now. This is a whole new arena, and I’m willing to do the work. I’m going to have to build that reputation again to show this industry that I can deliver the things that I say I’m going to deliver, because there is a network in place already for this. | Oh yeah. If I was doing a live show anyway, I’m going to get paid what I’m worth at this time in my career. I had to build that reputation from February 1997 [when “Baduizm” was released] to now. This is a whole new arena, and I’m willing to do the work. I’m going to have to build that reputation again to show this industry that I can deliver the things that I say I’m going to deliver, because there is a network in place already for this. |
| And me, as a woman and as a nonconformist, building something outside of that network, is always going to be difficult. I know that already. Now, they’ve got to figure out how we’re going to count my streams and deliver on time, and the publishing company had to get involved. I’m building a new machine. I may face a few obstacles. | And me, as a woman and as a nonconformist, building something outside of that network, is always going to be difficult. I know that already. Now, they’ve got to figure out how we’re going to count my streams and deliver on time, and the publishing company had to get involved. I’m building a new machine. I may face a few obstacles. |
| But I’m not even thinking in those terms. I’m not in a rush — I don’t think it’s a race because I don’t think that there’s anyone else who’s doing exactly what I’m doing. I’m willing to study and learn how this thing works because I definitely want to be in this game. | But I’m not even thinking in those terms. I’m not in a rush — I don’t think it’s a race because I don’t think that there’s anyone else who’s doing exactly what I’m doing. I’m willing to study and learn how this thing works because I definitely want to be in this game. |
| People are used to seeing Erykah Badu, the brand. But they’re going to have to start getting used to seeing Badu World, the company, because that’s what I’m building. | People are used to seeing Erykah Badu, the brand. But they’re going to have to start getting used to seeing Badu World, the company, because that’s what I’m building. |