African Music News: Jimmy De La Mar Delves Deeper Into His Life And Talks About His Latest Single – You Know (2024)

Describe your creative process.

It’s always different. Sometimes I have a rhythm that I like, then I play a melody to it and then the song develops from that. Or I have a great sound on which I come up with a melody, then the rhythm and then the vocal melody. It usually takes four to six weeks to write a song.

What is your main inspiration?

Melodies. I love melodies. My sound engineer always says I have too many of them in the song, but I always want the listener to hear something new.

What musician do you admire most and why?

That’s hard because I have two. Michael Jackson and Nile Rodgers (Chic). Michael Jackson for his sense of music and perfection. Nile Rodgers is for me one of the best funk guitarists in the world, also an incredible composer.

Did your style evolve since the beginning of your career?

Yes, of course. My first compositions nobody wanted to play, people ran screaming from the room. It was a long process for me and I’m still learning. If you listen to all the songs from the beginning until today, you will realize that.

Who do you see as your main competitor?

There are no competitors. My music can perhaps be compared with David Guetta and Robin Schulz. I like to listen to both of them and I want my music to be the same.

What are your interests outside of music?

I like to do sports. In the past soccer and tennis. Today fitness training. I do that three or four times a week to stay fit.

If it wasn’t a music career, what would you be doing?

I don’t have a real career. I couldn’t make a living from music. I get an average of 0.003 cents per stream. I would need 500 million streams to make a good living. I have another company. I am an insurance and finance broker by profession.

What is the biggest problem you have encountered in the journey of music?

Definitely the record companies and their A&R. They are arrogant, think they always know what the next hit is and always want to appeal to the young audience. I’m so glad that today there are online distributors and you don’t have to rely on them anymore. However, it’s still a David versus Goliath battle. Just because of their promotion possibilities with streaming services, TV, Dj’s and radio stations, you have no chance as an unknown artist who has to promote himself. I’ve heard great songs that with a professional promotion, would land in the charts one hundred percent but without they have 1000 streams on Spotify and none finds them.

If you could change one thing in the music industry, what would it be?

Clearly, that artists get more money from streaming companies like Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music etc. I’ve said before how many streams you need to get to make a living. You rarely recoup the costs of production and promotion as an unknown artist and that’s really unfair. I really don’t begrudge the people out there the opportunity to have millions of songs available. But we, we produce these songs and 90% of all artists can’t make a living out of it. That’s the bad thing. We don’t get compensated enough for our work.

Why did you choose this as the title of this project?

I was listening to my playlist Old School and came across the song by Simple Red Come to my Aid. I thought a similar song with today’s rhythms and keyboards would be a great idea. So, I sat down at my keyboard and played until I found a melody that was similar in style. That’s where You Know came from. The song is neither covered nor copied. Also, the harmonies don’t match and still I’m happy with the result. Another reason was that more and more young people are interested in old songs. So, I thought, with this song you can win old and young.

Do you have any artistic collaboration plans?

As of today, I will release at least 3 more songs, including two EDM songs. I also want to remix older songs of mine and make EDM songs out of them and then release a third album with only EDM songs on it.

What message would you like to give to your fans?

Message me, whether on Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok. Ask me questions or write me what you like or don’t like. I love writing with fans. You get to know so many nice people all over the world and they also help you to question yourself musically.