While the internet is abuzz with his name, why is Kartel himself is not grabbing his own Internet reigns and maximizing the Internet as a tool for promotion of his merchandising endeavours? When I searched for him online I found various profiles but had a hard time distinguishing which were official, and when I found what seemed to be his official profiles, I should have found everything he had to offer listed – that would be the smart move.
He’s had success in merchandising with Vybz Rum, his Clarke’s endorsement and condom line, and has plans to launch Vybz Cake Soap in April, followed by t-shirts, belt buckles and Addi’s sneakers. This failure was commonly attributed to the fact that there was no apparent effort made to promote the album to the US market, something which he could have done online. Kartel is well aware that the people are talking and is proud to say “let them talk, the more they talk more popular Kartel becomes.” And he is right, both his fans and detractors are doing the work for him online, and he’s certainly reaping the benefits in terms of the kind of visibility and popularity that other artists pimp themselves out online for, but what exactly is he doing with this popularity online? He could be promoting the hell out of everything he has to sell, including his music, but in 2010 he failed to chart on billboard or in iTunes – his “Pon Di Gaza” notoriously sold only 8 copies in its first week, and 519 downloads of singles off the album.
Various blogs, Facebook and twitter are perpetually aflutter with people opining about his activities, the latest being his UWI appearance, video of which has been shared 1240 times on Facebook. After all this hullabaloo Vybz Kartel must be thanking his lucky stars that someone invented the Internet, since it is turning out to be such a great agent of promotion for him.
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