Layer 2
View Additional Info

Growing the Audience for World Music: Link TV Finds New Fans Among L.A. Rastas, Zuni Teachers, and Arkansas Grandmas

What happens when the so-called “mainstream” gains access to world music videos and documentaries? Banish any stereotypes about what types of people respond.

There is the New Mexico state trooper so in love with flamenco that after a brisk e-mail correspondence, Michal Shapiro, Link TV’s associate director of music programming, sent him a guide to Flamenco for his birthday that she picked up in Seville. “But he is only one of the many flamenco fans out there,” she says, “and they are a vocal bunch!”

A woman from Arkansas wrote in to say that Amadou and Mariam—a blind couple from Mali—are her grandmother’s favorite musicians thanks to Link. There is a whole community of Rastas in Los Angeles that tune in to Link because it is their favorite source for international news and music. A teacher from a Zuni Indian Reservation wrote to say, “It is very isolated here and world music, in fact Link TV in general, gives me something to look forward to after work… thank you very much for opening a ‘window to the world.’”

“The music also appeals to young people, who are always looking for something new.” says Steven Lawrence, Link’s director of music and cultural programming. “We get a lot of email from teenagers telling us they’ve become interested in other countries as the result of seeing a new artist who captured their imagination.”

“I started watching Link TV when I was 17,” writes one viewer. “Now mind you, I am an African American who has grown up in South Central L.A. Link TV has allowed me to escape South Central and see the world as it really is. I used to come home everyday after school and watch. It has changed my life.”

Link also has some high profile fans, from Bill Cosby and Brad Pitt, to Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, all of whom tuned into Link one day and couldn’t stop watching. Many musicians discover Link watching satellite TV on their tour buses. One day, Kenny Rogers called from his tour bus to ask the name of a Link video he had just seen. The White House calls to complain when Link’s award-winning Mosaic—a program dedicated to news from the Middle East—changes broadcast times. Ricardo Alarcon, President of the National Assembly in Cuba, is also a fan. While Link’s satellite is pointed to the US for broadcast, the footprint is often picked up in the Caribbean and Mexico. Control Machete—a Mexican rap group—sent Link their music video, after having unexpectedly picked up Link’s broadcast in Mexico.

“I bumped into the manager from Ojos de Brujo—a fusion flamenco/hip hop group—at a conference,” recalls Shapiro. “He told me that they had just played in Cuba, and that the tour was a big success because people already knew them there, through seeing them on Link!”

More Viewer Comments:

You have opened up a new door for me when it comes to finding new music. I have been introduced to over 20 musicians that I love and now support. I usually find all my new music online, but you play some hard to get songs and your store allows me to buy those. It's terrific.Allegan, MI

I found the channel about a week ago and I can't stop watching. It's a symphony of many cultures. Winthrop Harbor, Illinois

We found Link TV by accident, channel surfing… and the children began dancing to the world-beat rhythms and we were all mesmerized by the vocals and images. We brought out the globe and we found the countries where the music had originated and spoke of other things we knew about those places…. — Canyon Country, CA

Link’s music programming has support not only from its viewers, but from an advisory board of artists and others who support the channel’s mission: Harry Belafonte, Chris Blackwell, Jack DeJohnette, Angelique Kidjo, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson, Danilo Perez, and Bonnie Raitt.



Additional Info
Link TV Delivers World Music Nationwide To More Than 30 ...
Growing the Audience for World Music: Link TV Finds New Fans Among L....
Top 15 World Music Videos
Music Documentaries
Link TV Series
Link TV Documentaries
Link TV Bios

Top of Press Release