{"id":25565,"date":"2022-12-23T11:29:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T11:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/23\/drake-and-21-savages-album-rollout-stunt-called-out-music-marketing\/"},"modified":"2022-12-23T11:29:37","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T11:29:37","slug":"drake-and-21-savages-album-rollout-stunt-called-out-music-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/23\/drake-and-21-savages-album-rollout-stunt-called-out-music-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake and 21 Savage’s Album Rollout Stunt Called Out Music Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When Drake and 21 Savage dropped their highly anticipated collaboration \u201cHer Loss\u201d in November, fans expected elite beats, playful raps and a megawatt duo looking to parlay the success of a No. 1 single into an enjoyable long-form album.<\/p>\n

What no one expected was a subliminal diss of stale marketing strategies in the music industry.<\/p>\n

Rather than give interviews or a live performance to promote the album, Drake, 21 Savage and their teams concocted a marketing rollout using their own platforms. <\/p>\n

Included were spoofs of performances on Saturday Night Live, the YouTube series A Colors Show and NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk Concert, a faux interview with Howard Stern<\/a>, a mock version of Vogue\u2019s In the Bag series<\/a> and a fake Vogue magazine cover.<\/p>\n

The stunts sent up the usual music marketing playbook, which often relies on the tried-and-true promo strategy of having artists make appearances on various television and online platforms to promote a new project.<\/p>\n

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Though the fake Vogue cover ended up with the magazine\u2019s publisher Cond\u00e9 Nast suing<\/a> Drake and 21 Savage, the overall viral marketing strategy worked.<\/p>\n

Head of R&B and hip-hop streaming at distribution platform Venice Music Jamal Jimoh said the stunt resonated because Drake and 21 Savage were able to make jokes at their own expense in the promos. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnything where you\u2019re down to have a little bit of fun, and not take yourself too seriously, for me, always connects,\u201d he said. \u201cIt humanizes it, and makes it more approachable and easier for the audience to connect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The marketing stunt seemed to work, with the album notching the biggest debut week for a hip-hop\/R&B album in 2022. The tracks racked up a total 514 million on-demand official streams, the fourth-largest streaming week for any album in history at the time.<\/p>\n

But did the stunt make an impression on music marketers?<\/p>\n

Partner and co-founder of independent marketing firm, record label and publisher 740 Project, Rahim Wright, thinks so. He said music marketing can often feel like checking off boxes because record labels are trying to make sure artists commit to a certain number of late-night talk shows, online studio performances and interviews. That has created a bland and formulaic approach to artist marketing. <\/p>\n

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But many major artists don\u2019t want to just check off boxes, so the way to convince them to believe in a marketing strategy is to come up with a good creative idea. \u201cWhat\u2019s going to break you into new places is if there\u2019s something creative about it, and that\u2019s what makes it worth doing for huge artists,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

CEO and founder of\u00a0Browned 2 Perfection Agency Junae Brown said creativity is not one size fits all, yet current music marketing is often packaged like it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that [the Drake and 21 Savage rollout] wasn\u2019t just a funny moment,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd it actually lights some fire up under everyone. Because in this day and age, the market is completely saturated with music. In order to break through the noise, you have to do something that\u2019s innovative.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marketing that works for me<\/h4>\n

Brown pointed out that creative ideas don\u2019t always have to be grandiose and have Drake\u2019s budget. Whether it\u2019s text message marketing that allows the artist to communicate with fans directly or an artist documenting the creative process, an activation specifically tailored to the artist is paramount.<\/p>\n

For an artist trying to build recognition, these performances are important. But Wright thinks it goes beyond having a good song and more about keeping a viewer\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf most people scroll and they see a new artist drop a video, like it or not, you\u2019re going to scroll right past it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the clip has a new artist tumbling down a hill, and the song is playing lightly in the background, you\u2019re going to be so engaged by the tumbling down the hill. And then somebody might point out that the song is also fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Music marketers also need to be willing to take risks. But many don\u2019t out of concern that an idea will fail, which has contributed to the boring box ticking. <\/p>\n

Asked what the biggest challenge music marketers face, Jimoh said fear. \u201cThe willingness, the readiness and the desire to bet on good ideas has dwindled drastically out of fear that the good ideas aren\u2019t the big idea,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n