We need your help. I hope you can take a few minutes to read this. We are taking a step which we feel is vital for this project, "Manu Om". I'm going to speak to you straight, without mincing words. I really want to stop worrying about whether the words I use are unsuitable from an advertising point of view. This is who we are and this is what we're going through:

The current crisis has blown up a house that was already falling apart. 

The system that creators depend on for their livelihood is dead. 

Today, those of us who have managed to make a modest living from music have been left practically without any means of income. The live music scene hangs by a regulatory thread that not only limits event capacity, but also encourages both the fear of infection and of the discomforts that kill any appetite to attend events. Record sales still made (less and less) sense as a kind of merchandising, as a souvenir of a beautiful experience. This happened at the end of every concert. If concerts aren't working, record sales sure aren’t. This leads us to digital sales, completely eclipsed by streaming networks (Spotify, YouTube, Deezer, ...). A disc costs about the same as a monthly subscription to any of these networks. And finally, the remuneration from streaming networks: 0.0044 cents per click. Our tens of thousands of plays bring us around €100 per month. In short, we are out of a livelihood.The world of music belongs to pop, trap, and reggaeton. 

 

Manu Om is no longer the adventure of a young Bhakta, but rather a movement that feeds many mouths and touches many hearts. Manu Om is no longer just Manel. It is also Ana, and our children Adrià, Uma, Teo, Guillem, and Dídac. Manu Om is percussionist Jaume Catá, and bassist Xavier Grau. Manu Om is Jordi Navarro and his recording studio. It's Pablo and his logistics and administrative work. It's Dina and her counselling. It's Fedo and Isa, it's Happy Yoga. And it's Jessica Walker, and Siri Tapa and Arantxa from Gobinde. It's the Monday Bhakti. Many schools are nourished by its Kirtan. It's the violinist Sukhdev and the flutist Atul. Manu Om is a fundamental part of a project that wants to exist and which has been diminished by this crisis: Bhakti Experience. It's Diego Arnold and the Ceremony of Love and Sun Sun Love. Manu Om is Festival Yoga Es. It's Naomi and Autoeditarte, it's Swami Probuddhananda and his ashram in Varanasi, it's Gopal and the Baba Guest house, it's Sri Bhagavan and the International Vedanta Society sangha ... Manu Om is, in short, people whom we love, are thankful for, and who have a lot to give.
Manu Om is a blue whale in danger of extinction. 

 

During the last few years we have had to adapt and readjust to continue adapting to a rapid and changing marketing system. Marketing and spirituality! A delicate balance. This effort, sometimes insufficient, sometimes weak, sometimes effective, has forced us to try new approaches. Instagram and its cohorts have tempted us, unsuccessfully, to distance ourselves from the essence of our ideal. Our latest bet was Patreon. A well-meaning crowdfunding network; you give me a little of your money each month and I will deliver the corresponding prize. It has been a rather unrewarding experience, with too-slow growth due to certain complexities in the affiliation process. But a new inspiration has emerged from this adventure. It is the reason for this message.

A closed circle. Pure crowdfunding, without the need for a specific return. The new paradigm, the new model is actually the old paradigm, the oldest of models. The rishis, sadhus, swamis, and ashrams throughout India have been operating for millennia thanks to donations, very small but numerous donations. This model inspires us. We want to get away from sales and marketing. We wholeheartedly hope that a system where many give just a little can work, and that these donations keep alive a project whose only vocation is creation and service. Our commitment is to family and to Love. We do not want a big break or to get rich. Our desire is to continue offering Bhakti spaces, producing mantras, kirtan, events... experiences of Love. Everything that we do not use to meet our needs as a family, we use to build projects, so that the wheel of prosperity continues to turn. We would like to achieve a number of monthly donations that permits us to not need to sell anything that we produce. Our desire and vocation is that Manu Om and everything it represents be given to the whole world, for those who donate and for those who do not. Just like the swamis do at ashrams.
We need this latest marketing effort, the one we're doing now, to finally break free from this hamster wheel. We need your €2 a month and we need you to support us, share this, help us get this old-but-new system to take off. And we need the effort that we used in the past to achieve visibility and sales to be amortized, multiplied, to lead to more time and energy for serving, creating, and responding to the call of the heart. 

 

Our motive is pure.

We have no choice but to ask for your help. This crisis has brought down our subsistence structures. And what seems to be a misfortune may end up being, with
your help, a blessing. We pray that the devastating ray of Shiva will illuminate this new way, infinitely more aligned with who we are and with what we want to continue being.

WE NEED EACH OTHER,
WE HAVE EACH OTHER.

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Manel Mèlich Solana
Esparraguera, September 3, 2020

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