The 10 Mixtape Commandments
By Alfred Ashu
The mixtape has become one of the most powerful tools in a musician’s arsenal; it has plucked artists like 50 Cent and Drake from obscurity to the top of the Billboard Charts, re-birthed the career of Chris Brown and helped a slew of others to remain relevant. The mixtape is now one of music’s most championed forms of releasing music as it allows the artist to create and release music that they have a passion for sans the pressure from label executives to deliver bubbly pop records. Every year hundreds of artists (both signed and unsigned) release mixtapes in hopes of revitalizing their careers or duplicating the success of 50 Cent, Drake, Wiz Khalifa or J. Cole, but most mixtapes fall under the radar do to poorly conducted campaigns. Here is the definitive guide to making sure your next mixtape doesn’t go unnoticed!
1. Specific Release Time & Date
Having a specific release date and time makes your mixtape release eventful and builds anticipation. Rather than saying ‘the mixtape drops tomorrow or next week’ assigning your mixtape a more specific release of say, Friday at 7pm, will likely garner much more attention.
2. Standout Cover Art
if your cover art resembles that of the late 90’s Cash Money releases, it may repel potential listeners because unfortunately in rap we do judge albums by their covers.
3. Strategically Leak Songs
"For me it's like being on the street -- you hustling,"..."You come out and you know its a thousand people on the block doing their thing. You gotta get in where you fit in. I might come out with a couple of extra jams just to get my name out -- like, yo, give a couple of fiends something for free, just to let 'em know. 'It's over here. Taste that. Taste that! Taste that and let me know how you feel. Get back at me.' I think that's the same rules that apply to the mixtape situation. – Raekwon
4. Add Visual Support
Shooting Music Videos can be a great source of reciprocal promotion, not only music videos, but mixtape trailers and behind the scenes in the studio footage will also help to spread awareness for your project. You might be surprised at how many artists gain new fans simply because of an accidental YouTube click.
"You got to bump your head sometimes. I realized that with “The Warm Up” I should have did more visuals….just because I realize the importance of that now, the visual aspect and how much fans want to see that," – J. Cole (On The Importance of Visual Support)
5. Be Original (Minimize Cover Songs)
Unless you’re a well respected lyricist i.e. Lil Wayne, Fabolous, J. Cole etc. people don’t want to hear a whole album of freestyles, plus it minimizes your projects replay value. Using original tracks will allow your music to be promoted through radio stations and iTunes and add a little extra cash in your pocket. Be sure to give the listeners good, quality tracks as an artist will only be considered as hot as his latest project.
"I think that when creating a mixtape, you have to approach it with a selfless mind-set,"... "A mixtape can't be the songs that don't make your album, or songs that aren't good enough to make your album make your mixtape -- unless you're that good. There aren't that many people that are that good. I'm not that good. That mixtape [So Far Gone] is me working my hardest. It wasn't 'Oh, here are the songs I'm going to give away to you 'cause I have better songs coming.' A mixtape has become an album." – Drake
6. Enlist Guest Established Rappers/Producers
A Mixtape is a great way to legally release that hot joint that you couldn’t put on your album due to clearance issues. If you’re already well established, you can use guest features to break your new talent. Features are a great way to get another person’s fans to give your Mixtape a listen. Maybach Music emcee Wale most noticeably used this strategy with his “Back to the Feature” mixtape.
7. Utilize Endorsements
Having your project hosted/sponsored by a big name DJ or Website can do wonders for your projects awareness. If DJ Drama or 2DopeBoyz put their seal of approval on your project, more people are likely to listen and more outlets will push your mixtape.
8. Embrace The Power of Social Media
Do the hash tags #Fanofafan or #Kushandorangejuice ring a bell? If so, it’s probably because they spent a day or two as trending topics on Twitter in lieu of mixtape releases from Wiz Khalifa and Chris Brown/Tyga adding fuel to their already highly buzzed releases.
“A lot of artists try to get things to trend just for the fact of doing it and having that happen. I feel like when it happens, it’s supposed to be organic. Our little motto is “Taylor Gang or Die” and three or four days before I dropped the tape, that started trending on its own. I was like, ‘Cool, it’s getting to be that time.’ So that’s why when I did #kushandorangejuice, people latched straight onto it…and it spread like wildfire. You got to use your powers [on Twitter] wisely. You got to build up your powers. A year ago, I probably had like 5,000 followers on Twitter and I couldn’t have done nothing like this”. – Wiz Khalifa
9. Respect The Commodity Of Time
Although all these tips can be very effective, using them all at once will defeat the purpose. Timing is essential and at certain times, certain techniques will be more effective then others.
10. Don’t Charge…..Yet
Lil Kim came under a lot of a bit of fire back in February when she announced that she would be charging $9.99 for her “Black Friday” mixtape. It may be difficult to convince fans to spend money on a mixtape, when they are barely willing to spend it on albums. Where an artist will make their money lies in the subsequent shows, features and singles released in light our increased buzz.
1 comments:
where's 10?
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