I recently had the privilege to see an amazing musician at the Drawingroom in Chesham. It was a Russian gypsy guitarist called Estas Tonne. He had a band with him featuring a hang player vocalist Storia and mexican percussionist called Alvaro. They played a fantastic set and had the entire audience spell bound.
However, I found Estas’s lifestyle just as impressive as his music. He is what once would have been called a troubadour, moving from country to country playing music where ever he is invited, he plays and collaborates with other musicians and artists on an ad hoc basis the world over – and let me tell you he is a world class musician. He keeps himself together in every respect through internet marketing. He has sold more thn 50,000 albums on-line through a variety of e-music outlets, he has over 6,000 followers on Facebook, thousands more on Myspace and his website is the portal for all this activity.
He keeps himself financially solvent through a combination of Paypal and Online banking with accounts in a number of currencies. He is able to perform all the logistics moving himself and other musicians around the world with online booking services.
His online networking skills are superb allowing him to collaborate with other musicians, promoters, and fans without the intervention of record companies, agents or managers. A true electronic gypsys and one man music industry.
