Lessons from Akon

In Episode 5 - Swing: Pure Pleasure of Ken Burns' Jazz documentary, the writer Gerald Early called Swing "the antidote to the Depression." This, he explained, was because the music provided people with something they desperately needed: an escape.

Zack O'Malley-Greenburg's recent Forbes article, Akon's Recession-Proof Tune, reminded me of Early's words. It also made me wonder if artists such as Akon are the antidote to the recession. O'Malley-Greenburg writes: "Akon is one of the only artists to increase his income in a year that's been almost as cruel to hip-hop as it's been to Wall Street." Based on what he told O'Malley-Greenburg, it seems that part of the reason Akon has been able to remain successful is that he understands what music can do for people.

"I think people lean more to music when they're going through the hard times. The recession is really impacting everyday people, and they want to try to get away from the troubles they're dealing. Music is always a crutch."

- Akon in an interview with O'Malley-Greenburg

Akon's words remind us that in order to be successful, we must first understand the needs of our clients.

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Image: "Guitar" [credit: Daniel St. Pierre] from freedigitalfoto.net