Could 100 Gigs Be The Future For Artists?
Drake dropped 100 gigs late on Tuesday, dropping 100gb of content including three unreleased tracks and tens of videos and pictures.
Many artists are becoming disillusioned with the algorithmic filtering from social networks and a shift to entertainment-based feeds (thanks to TikTok’s re-engineering of the web).
This approach does not engage the causal followers and unless you are constantly following or have alerts switched on fans will miss any update from their artist of choice.
From an artist's POV: Why amass millions of followers and be restricted by the platform?
Go back straight to the fans…especially the superfans…
The Superfan Flywheel ↑ How the superfans increase reach and sales for their favourite influencers, celebrities and creators
What Drake (& his team) have done is smart, by offering a glimpse beyond the Instagram feed, releasing songs directly for free downloads is removing the friction of these platforms enabling to see where fans are based, what songs are downloaded and streamed, which videos and images are downloaded (for free) and what platforms are driving traffic and engagement with fans.
Although the popular platforms (Spotify, Instagram etc) offer a limited number of these features, it disconnects them from the fans and limits their chances to connect.
In the near future I suspect many artists with large teams will take an approach to this, likely pushing for mobile numbers to send important updates to (like a 1-2-1 service) and looking to sign up superfans with emails (to send newsletters, exclusives and website updates to).
Is this the future not exactly industry-wide but it does offer an opportunity for artists to move away from social platforms and reward their fans with great behind the scenes view and bonus tracks that could be working harder for them.
This is how the superfan ecosystem works and how smart artists like Drake can leverage this new model to make money and connect with their fans at a much deeper level
Update 10/08/2024: The delayed release of the tracks onto Soundcloud and other streaming sites also shows how smart they have been looking at the data and then releasing to make money via streaming. Well played Drake and the OVO team.