“The challenges of a timeless classic indie record”

Sep 24, 2019

In the winter of 2017 Canadian Indie singer-songwriter, Ali Hugo released his Indie EP “Time Machine”. The EP gained huge success prompting Hugo’s Canadian Indie label Mirage Records to award Hugo a Gold record in recognition of total downloads and streams of the EP’s singles. Hugo had designed a unique strategy for the promotion of “Time Machine” which appealed to music listeners yearning for the nostalgic sounds of the ’70s 80’s and ’90s. Hugo even went as far as producing a Rockumentary titled “Time Machine” which was selected as a finalist for a Movie Festival in Carey North Carolina. However, “Time Machine” wasn’t without its critics as one indie music blog stated “Hugo Needs to Record new songs” in reference to the nostalgic content of the “Time Machine” EP which was recorded during Hugo’s Teens in the 90’s. Never the less, the last single of “Time Machine; Rhythm of Love” was released on Valentine’s Day in 2019 right after releasing a limited edition CD of the EP. The deadline set for ending [Time Machine] promotional efforts was May 2019. Hugo took time out to vacation in the Indian Ocean Archipelago of Zanzibar where Hugo traces his ancestry. ‘The Idea was for Hugo to recuperate and come back refreshed to plan-out a new strategy for the new record” says Jeremiah Keys a fellow musician and collaborator in some of the tracks on Hugo upcoming projects. By June 2019, Hugo announced “Hope for the Meek” his upcoming album of spiritual music and started an online diary to update his fans on the production process of “Hope for The Meek’. However, what both Hugo and Mirage Records didn’t have a full comprehension of was the lifeline which was extended to “Time Machine” as singles from the EP re-entered the top ten of various North American indie charts, due to popular demand by Ali Hugo Fans. This prompted popular radio shows like Oklahoma’s “Nick & Bootsy Basement Tape Show” to pick up Hugo’s country single “You’ll find love” while “Rhythm of Love” has been released On RNB hits radio and Urban radio. The forecast right now looks like another year of “Time Machine” will be in effect. “I Think where we went wrong was that we got caught up in all of this digital hoopla and needing to do things differently” was Hugo’s comment. “Essentially what the digital music age has allowed us to do, is use strategies employed by the record industry in the 70’s, where an albums lifeline and its promotion could last up to 6 years” that was certainly the case back then with records by industry veterans such as The Eagles and Santana. Hugo added “Now we’ve re-examined our strategy and took into accounts not only on-demand streams but also podcasts and streams supported by blogs content. We’ve also come up with innovative ways to repackage the songs, for example, creating secret playlists available exclusively on Hugo’s official website. In addition to this, “We’re negotiating with a few of the Chinese Music streaming service providers, to see what types of opportunities will be given to “Time Machine”, to help it crack the Chinese Music Market. “Quite frankly, I don’t think this would have worked with just any other record. The concept of Time Machine makes it a timeless classic that has taken a life of its own, by really time traveling listeners to those wonderful musical decades of the past” “ I truly believe that I’ve struck a gold mine with Time Machine and that it will take me to double-platinum stratosphere in the long run” Hugo pointed out. So What about “Hope for the Meek”? “It would be logical to view any new Ali Hugo release as a threat to Time Machine’s product lifecycle. But I disagree with that point of view, I think because the Ali Hugo content available online is limited to the hit singles of my first Album NGF and those of Time Machine, there is plenty of room for more Ali Hugo Music in the market” Hugo reassured. This disagreement has led Hugo to plan the release of “Hope for the Meek” on his own indie label Belief Records distributed by Universal Music.
“I keep reminding myself that I’m only human and this DIY approach has its limits, I mean; I’m still obligated to promote “Time Machine” especially now that it is picking up in Honduras, Turkey and Japan but I’m also receiving pressure from my hardcore fans to announce the expected date for the release of “Hope for the Meek”, and that’s why my team and I decided that we should at least have the first single out by this Christmas” Hugo promised.