3 Proven Ways To Sell More Albums And Gain Fans

What up, Smart Rapper? I’m Rob Level, and this is the Smart Rapper Marketing Series. Today we’re going to be talking about 3 tricks to sell way more albums when you drop a project. 

I’m always out here trying to help share anything I think will help you guys, and I definitely didn’t want to leave this off the list. 

I charted iTunes Top 100 when my first album released and it was all thanks to the stuff I am going to share with you Smart Rappers today.

Get ready to get smarter and get further faster. Let’s get into it.

Alright, so today we’re gonna be going through a few things YOU can do to make sure that your next project gets the momentum it deserves. 

These days, it can be tempting to just drop something and hope it gets popular off of the quality of your music. Believe me, I wish it was that simple. 

Don’t shoot yourself in the foot or set yourself up for regret later because you didn’t prepare the way you should’ve. 

You’ll feel really dumb and like you wasted your time AND the hard work you did to write, record, and finish all that music. So listen up and set yourself up for success with your next album release.

NUMBER ONE:

1) Release a smaller project with solid music about one month before you release your next project. 

This is a BRILLIANT idea for a number of reasons:

First, this gets people listening to you and gives them something to listen to for the whole month prior to your Album release.

Secondly, this is actually a strategic choice that taps into a very human need for familiarity.

It’s a legit psychological phenomenon called the mere-exposure effect and it means that people generally develop a preference for things they’re familiar with. 

In this case, we want people to be familiar with YOU and therefore biased to like whatever new stuff you put out. 

It also keeps YOU in their mind for that whole month so there is no way they can forget you have a bigger and better project coming.

On this pre-release project, you can put teasers of the MAIN SINGLES from the new album on there so they just CAN’T WAIT to get it.

You also make sure to have skits or ends of songs where it says the release date of the album in the song so they date sticks with them. 

This PRE-RELEASE to your album is full of songs that are GOOD, but you let your audience know these are your throw away songs… IMAGINE the album.

Like Prodigy Said in Dump:

“Don’t confuse our album with that mixtape shit

Those our scratch, basically our throwaway shit”

NUMBER TWO:

In order to sell more albums, you should offer more things with the album that will give more incentive to the person to buy.

It’s the same thing major artists do. Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott did it for their last albums to sell way more records.

Music can be streamed for free, so why would they spend $10 to $15 buying anything, right?

Well, this is how you make extra money from the person who is truly a fan.

You BUNDLE the album with other things.

What you do is you sell the album along with a concert ticket and a few t-shirts.

This still counts as an album sale since an album is being sold. YOu also make money from the t-shirts and fill another seat for a show.

Now if you aren’t at the show level yet, bundle it with t-shirts and hats.

One thing I did when I dropped the album that was an iTunes Top 100 was I made it so everyone who bought an album and showed me their receipt of purchase to my e-mail… I would call them and talk to them.

It’s very time-consuming, but think about how many people would love to talk to you on the phone or get a personal thank you for buying the album.

Think someone gives you 10 bucks to talk to them on the phone for less than 5 minutes? That’s $120 an hour. Totally worth it! Plus, they will be even more of a fan after that.

These creative ideas that offer more value to your fans will separate you from the pack and show you care about them, creating an even more positive connection between you guys.

NUMBER THREE 

A lot of artists do this to get people pumped for an album… and that is… they buy a couple of features from people who your fans would LOVE to see you collab with.

When you release that artwork for the album and they see other rappers they like on songs with you… They are going to be SUPER excited to hear those collabs.

It also helps to have features they would NEVER expect from a mid-sized rapper they have heard of.

So I recommend you save a little bit of money and buy some verses from artists for $2,000.

So again

1) Release a smaller project to stay in their minds for the month prior that also hypes the album in it

2) Bundle your album with other things your audience may want like a t-shirt, a concert ticket, or a phone call from you personally thanking them

and

3) Get some features on your project.

This has been three tricks to sell WAY more albums on your next drop. I’m Rob Level. Hit me with a like, hit me with a subscribe, and comment the name of your next project below. Keep hustling Smart Rapper, Ill see you at the top!

– Rob Level

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