How to Release and Market an Album in Today’s Music Business
It’s always nice to hear success stories from artists who put out their own indie releases, but this year I was able to witness first hand, and be a part of, such a project. I want to share with you how hip hop artist Cambatta and DJ Nice released and promoted ‘The Visionary’.
In 2008 Cambatta was an unsigned artist who was was trying to get his name out there, particularly on the mixtape circuit. With the help of old school friend DJ Nice, he decided to start work on his debut release, titled ‘The Visionary’.
DJ Nice was already an established name on the mixtape scene as both a DJ and producer, and with his experience and contacts Cambatta was granted access to many talented producers and artists to work with.
Before the album was released, Cambatta and DJ Nice did a number of things to create a buzz. They released a few collaborations with more well-known artists for free in order to raise Cambatta’s profile. These songs made appearances on many top hip hop websites, enabling Cambatta to reach a wide audience.
One of those songs was ‘True Magic’, featuring signed artist Skyzoo. This track did a great job exposing hip hop fans to Cambatta’s music, Skyzoo was already an established artist with a big following, so his name garnered a lot of attention for the song. In order to capitalize off this attention, DJ Nice decided to run a remix competition. Producers were given access to the acapella of the song and were asked to come up with their own remix, the winning remix was to be featured on the album. They received a huge amount of submissions for the contest, and as a result, created a lot of buzz for the album.
They also shot a couple of music videos and released them online.
During the recording of the album DJ Nice remained very active in certain online communities, he updated people on the progress of the album as well as getting them involved.
So when the album was released in January of this year, for free, Cambatta and DJ Nice had already built up a lot of hype, gotten various hip hop publications’ support and connected with their fans. In no time at all, ‘The Visionary’ had spread all over the net and, with the help of some viral marketing, the album has racked up over 8000 downloads (and that only includes downloads that were tracked).
A few months after the release they decided to re-launch the album on CD and digital download services so that fans could have the option of paying for album. For this they hooked up with clothing company Narcocorrido Brand and arranged a cross-promotion deal, in which a free t-shirt was bundled with every album sale, and a free copy of ‘The Visionary’ came with every t-shirt sale.
The reason that this project succeeded is one which we talk about here all the time. They connected with their fans, and gave them a reason to buy. Their presence on online communities during the recording and release of the album made people feel like they were a part of it, so of course when it was eventually released they were excited to hear the final product. The album was released for free, this was important because it was Cambatta’s debut effort. Had they released it initially as paid only, they wouldn’t have seen the success they did. Not because the music wasn’t good enough, but simply because it wouldn’t have spread as it did.
For a debut album I don’t think the two could have done much better. They handled everything themselves, from the recording and the album artwork to the marketing and the sponsorship deals. It’s great to see that new artists are coming out with a clear understanding of the current music business and what the future holds.
“We are currently looking to do more promotion deals with sponsors in the coming months such as; cross promotion with another clothing sponsor in a to-be-filmed professional music video, branding/merchandise from a sponsor to be given to fans via contests and giveaways etc.” DJ Nice told me. “Overall we are looking to give people a chance to interact, support, and most importantly feel they are supporting an artist who they can see growing and succeeding.”
‘The Visionary’ is available to buy now from iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and CD Baby.
Nice to see DJ Nice and Cambatta getting it in. Nice is definitely a businessman.
Interstinig story, thanks for sharing!
But, you left out the most important metric, how many CDs and T-shirts did they sell? Everything before that is just the lead up to prepare for the final conversion into a sale, but when we get to the part where the rubber hits the road you just move on to the conclusion and don’t mention how the CD and T-shirt sales went.
Kind of leaves the impression that sales actually weren’t that great. 8,000 free downloads doesn’t really sound like a lot to me, not in comparison to someone like Ronald Jenkees who has something like 40 million hits between all of his tracks on YouTube and yet still seems to be below the mainstream radar.
If 8,000 downloads is success, why isn’t Ronald Jenkees being courted by the majors?
@Sam K
I don’t know the ins and outs of the sales. My point in this post wasn’t to prove that the formula works (there’s plenty of evidence of that all over this site), but just to show, what I believe to be, a great marketing approach. I understand where you’re coming from though.
I think Cambatta and DJ Nice’s main objective with this project was to get exposure rather than money, this is just a first move for them. Now that they have a following they can monetize off that. I imagine whether or not they made a profit from this release is irrelevant to them (although I won’t speak on their behalf), they have set themselves up for their next move.
I certainly understand that making money was not the objective, but sales would still be your best barometer of the effectiveness of the marketing. It would indicate how well targetted those 8000 downloads were and how strong an impression you made on those people you reached.
Without something concrete to anchor everything in reality, it’s hard to have any kind of objective understanding of how “great” this marketing approach is.
@Sam K
You’re right. The reason I know it worked well for them is because I was directly involved in the project. I don’t have any stats though so I can understand where you’re coming from.
If nothing else, I hope the article gives indie artists looking for an effective business model something to think about.
Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for the share.
Great to know some people are thinking ahead.
For an artist nowadays, exposure is golden. HOWEVER.. Money IS green.
And it grows… like a plant… from the seeds you sow.
Keynote:
Cross-Promotion
Collaboration
Online Support
= a good start
Ok… the name to remember is Ranks and Banks. The Album call
It’s Out There. Coming in August.