18 Year Old Rapper is One Smart Marketer

Yeah he certainly knows what he is doing. He uses social media really effectively to reach out and communicate with his audience.

Its a perfect example of finding out where your niche market hangs out online and then interacting with them.

Good on him

I think it's fascinating how some people use the Internet either exclusively (e.g. Jon Lajoie) or almost exclusively to build a huge fan base. I actually heard of Soulja Boy a little over a year ago and was already seeing videos of people doing their versions of his song "Crank That" on Youtube. Tbh, I strongly dislike his songs, but I think his marketing tactics are very effective and clever.

Every field has its sharp ones and then the not so sharp. Some fields just have more not so sharp.
This kid has figured it out.

Soulja Boy's videos gets around 40- 50 Millions of views, better than any other singer/rapper in the industry.
Was featured at youtube live.
So if anyone thinks they need a record label to make stuff work, think again.
Saw a post in techcrunch about music industry, record label will be obsolete.

For business who are serious about their marketing, social media is the key.

First off, saying "rappers aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer" could be taken two ways. I can guarantee that any average joe with a university degree who was asked to write down 16 bars of clever lyrics comprising of metaphors, rhythmic timing and wordplay would fail - i.e. it's not as easy as it looks.

but if you're referring to the idiots that are all over the television, than that's a different story. Most of them are idiots!

Being a music producer for 8 years and having worked with over 40 hip hop artists from all over the map, I'd have to say that it's getting more and more difficult to make it as an artist because of the younger kids who have a grip on the internet and the power behind it.

If you take that disease named Soulja Boy for example, he gained his popularity strictly because of the internet, social networking, and the viral power when things "hit" with an audience.

Nice thread - recognizing a whole other side to marketing online that many of us mmo heads over look. I'm sure many of these independent musicians and artists could very well teach some of us a lesson in social networking!

There is another guy on YouTube named Ronald Jenkees who promotes himself with videos of him just pounding on the keyboard. He has a Wordpress blog on his website and sells his music directly to his fans.

His music is awesome by the way. Instrumental hip hop beats. Great work music. Check him out.

Very interesting how this guy uses social networking to basically build massive lists of fans.

It was fun reading articles,Forum discussions and people's comments.Thanks for the information !!