TQ is the artist that penned and sang the ode to all this Westcoast with the song Westside. With a career that spans more than two decades the R&B crooner has survived the test of time. J-Luv caught up with TQ for an episode of Microphone Masters Radio Show and asked him how he balances satisfying current fans with reaching out to new one.
“It’s a fine line that you have to walk. Especially the way the music business is today and the way that music is (consumed). The days of waiting for an artist’s record to come out and then running to the store and getting it…that whole hype thing is gone. You have to have other means of getting yourself out there. For me, being a songwriter first or an artist, I love to be in the studio. I’m in the studio everyday trying to make a song some kind of way. But if you are an artist you can’t spend all of your time in there because no one will know who you are because nobody’s going to see you. So over the last few months I’ve been going to my publicist and he has been saying, ‘Get out (there).’”
In an effort to maintain connection to his fans, TQ conducted research to find out that that while well designed, his website was not the best way to interact with his fans. The result is his new TQ App available on iTunes.
“In order to have real information you have to be into the analytics of what you are doing. And from what I have seen, the majority of people that access my music do it through their mobile phone or iPad as opposed to a computer. It’s like 80/20 and I didn’t know that. I had put a lot of time into designing a website that was fully functional and that was easy for people to use and I’m looking at the numbers from the actual computers was really low. It was really from mobile phones. So I wanted to streamline the experience and be able to give people an experience. Where there wouldn’t have to be a lot of loading or wait time. They could have it in their phone with access to me and what I’m doing. This app covers that. It’s packed with new and unreleased music. My brand new EP came out exclusively in the app and it’s the only place you can get it.”
Check out the rest of the interview as TQ shares some business savvy, keeping good business relationships and how Drake helped boost TQ’s social media profile and sales. Listen to Episode 101 now.
TQ on Microphone Masters Radio Episode 101 (07-08-15) Show (Stream/Download)
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