Tyler the Creator and Odd Future built their brand by giving music away for free. They used the Internet to create a cult following. They built relationships with their fans through Twitter and Tumblr. They also posted homemade music videos on YouTube. Their website provided fans with free music but they had to pay for merchandise. Odd Future made money by selling t-shirts, caps and other accessories. They used free music as a promotional tool for their concerts and other items. Grassroots support is helping them move from the tail to the head. Last year, they signed a deal with Sony that’s gave them 100% creative and managerial control as well as ownership of past, present and future master versions of their work. Giving away music has been a profitable strategy for Tyler the Creator and Odd Future.
Wow that video went in a direction I did not expect. Very interesting. It’s a great example, though, of how artists can build this grassroots support and then transition into the world of the hits – or at least I assume that’s what Sony wants. It will be interesting to watch him in the future – will Sony come to regret allowing him to keep complete creative control (but good on Tyler for insisting on it)?
sony will probably regret giving him all of that creative control…..that kid is always doing something offensive….but they knew what type of person he was when they signed him
I didn’t realize this was who everyone was talking about in class. I watched this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-xq7t6pKw&feature=relmfu) a while back. They are crazy and awesome. Pretty cool that they offer their music for free. Thanks for sharing!
that rella video is mad crazy and funny. eye was surprised when i found out that they directed most of their vids…those guys are super creative
One member of Odd Future that I have known about since before I heard about Tyler the Creator is Frank Ocean. In my opinion, he is heading for the short tail even more quickly than anyone else in Odd Future. He just has such an effortless voice mixed with such poetic and beautiful lyrics. Like in the video “She” though with Tyler, we can see he can pull out a little bit of a twisted side as well. A lot of him though is a heart broken romantic and expresses that flawlessly. I’m pretty sure he was also giving away nostalgia,Ultra for free but still got into trouble with Don Henley for using Hotel California in his song American Wedding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFNaFeIm4bU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F15IjgyHd60
frank killed that song she…his verse was better than tylers
haha odd future yes! I have been a big fan for a while! What is interesting is there creative way to emerge in the short tail. More hip hop groups are using collectives where they have one guy stand out and get noticed and then he introduces the rest of them as a whole. They also have a store in LA that I had the chance to visit in August. The store just consist of merchandise such as t-shirts and hats. Another way they are getting recognition is from a sketch comedy show on Adult swim called Loiter Squad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKdaQRz4xF8
odd future is pretty much laying down the blueprint for how to make it in 2days music industry….yeah loiter squad is some funny shizit