Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are the molten core of Planet Earth’s music scene right now. The lyricist x producer combo became the first ever independent artists to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Top 100 chart with their single “Thrift Shop”. Anchored by legitimate talent that reeks of hip-hop’s lyrical roots, Macklemore scaled his way to global fame with the support of an innovative management team.
Manager Zack Quillen sat down with Hypebot for an interview back in December 2012, where he offered up some semi pre-explosion advice on the social media tactics which drove his artist’s digital presence. The content might be a few months old, but it’s content is more relevant today than ever before. Here are six valuable lessons on social media that everyone in the music industry can learn from:
6. Waste Your Time Smarter
Stop trying to network through Soundcloud comments and focus valuable time towards maximizing your social media efforts. If the music is good enough to draw attention, work on improving the experience for fans who are actively seeking your music.
Well what’s important to us is that we can share information directly with fans in a way that’s also easy for [the fans] to pass around.
5. Simplify. Rinse. Repeat.
It’s better to regularly maintain three platforms with clear direction rather than trying to cover every base sporadically. Again, being user-friendly is a large part of successful social media strategies.
I think a lot of bands, if you go to their websites, you find ten different social media options, and as fans I think that can lead to a bunch of news and confusion, like ‘where do I go?’ So we really wanted to focus on those three [aforementioned] places [so we can] appease those large groups of users.
4. Go Hipster. Milk Tumblr.
Oh, Facebook and Twitter?…everyone’s doing it. Tumblr is an opportunity to stand out in a less crowded space. Unlike Facebook, Tumblr allows users to manipulate unique formats. Put the time into developing a quality design and update with engaging content on the reg.
The ease in which we can share information to fans and pass it around made Tumblr appealing, but the real factor has to do with Tumblr’s backend. Tumblr has a great app for the iPhone and iPad and as a manager, I wanted to make sure we had a very user friendly site for Macklemore and Ryan so that they could be out, take a picture on Instagram or something else, and have it automatically post to the website or jump on the Tumblr app and create a blog post on-the-go…
3. Don’t Overlook Patterns in Data
Don’t be the guy (or girl) who misses red flag trends in data. Not the recurring areas of influence and keep mental tabs on the little details that others might neglect.
In terms of specific markets, we try to take notice of heat coming from one particular region or specific market. We the agents, or management, might receive noticeably more emails from one city or another. We also might see more Facebook posts from a particular area. If we feel that heat, we try and take those things into account. – Peter Schwartz, VP, The Agency Group
2. Be Your Own Tweets
Don’t let management tweet and Facebook for you. Eliminating the means of communication with fans is probably the most counter productive idea ever.
Before I came along — or they had anyone helping them — it was their voice. We’ve been really cognizant of not changing that. So Macklemore doesn’t have somebody tweet for him, it’s always his voice, and the same with the Facebook and Tumblr. We make it super easy and accessible to them so they continue to be the ones in contact with fans and in control of their message at all times. These guys care a lot about that.
1. Transparency is King
Stay humble. Respond when people reach out and most importantly, be honest. Macklemore shared the skeletons of his past (severe drug addiction) with everyone during his rise to the top, a connection responsible for 50+ sold out tour dates in a row last year and the respect of millions.
A perfect example of Macklemore redirecting the tides, challenging the “generally accepted” norms of our present day rap market.
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