do you think quality mixtapes can help promote your album ?

[RC998]

Lil Wayne released two mixtapes in 2007, that were considered the best mixtapes/best albums of the year, it helped win hottest MC of the year. when his album, Tha Carter III dropped in 2008, he sold a million copies first week. he ended up going 3X Platinum.


Future who recently released three mixtapes that people considered quality, released an album, DS2 last summer and ended up selling more then what he sold on his first and second album.

50 Cent used mixtapes to get him a record deal and a fanbase, he then release some more mixtapes. he became the most hyped up rapper in the game at one point and sold 800,000 on his debut album, GRODT in 2003. he ended up going 8X Platinum.

i think there might be more examples out there but do you think mixtapes that can appeal to people or are considered quality help promote albums.

 

[Ziggiy]

Depends on the artist.

You gave great examples.


What labels are FINALLY beginning to understand is that Mixtapes are the new albums. I say to THIS day that the number one issue with J.Cole and Drake.'s major label debuts is that the labels forced Cole and Drake's ghostwriter to rush Sideline Story and Thank Me Later to capitalize on their "buzz" when the buzz was already organic from So Far Gone and Warm Up. Cole had to sacrifice a lot of great records from Sideline Story to drop Friday Night Lights to get the label to start believing in him, and compromise his artistic integrity by "letting Nas down" and dropping Work Out, when truly, it wasn't necessary. The Warm Up was already Cole's debut album and is now treated as such.

Same thing with Drake, he even re-released So Far Gone as an EP and it went Gold. The label should have allowed him and his writing pool more time get the album finished. Both albums were going to be commercially successful without the need to rush. Fast forward 5 years and the "mixtape" gimmick is one of Drake's most successful staples with IFYTITL and WATTBA being two of the top selling albums of 2015.


Future had a hell of a year and his demand was high. I am NOT a fan of Future by any stretch of the imagination, but you can't deny there was high demand for him and in his case, his Mixtapes further strengthened his movement similar to Lil Wayne's 06-07 run.

Artists have gotten smarter and have started marketing Mixtapes as the "true" representation of who they really are. Fans nowadays are aware, to some extent, of how labels have enslaved artists. Lupe Fiasco used this to great effect when he dropped Friend Of The People and Enemy Of The State while Atlantic was holding LASERS hostage. Nas dropped the ****** Tape while there was a hold up in the controversy surrounding Untitled and whether store chains would carry the album with the title intact.

Artists have also had success dropping Mixtapes as creative outlets that can extend past the limitations of the standard album format. Childish Gambino released the STN MTN mixtape as combination project with the Kauai EP to tell a unified conceptual story, without having to necessarily pay for the expensive samples that served as the back drop of his story.

 

[Pier7]

Mixtapes are the future (no pun intended)

A good mixtape that kills the streets, no amount of industry magic can replicate that feeling

 

[OfTheCross]

My answer to the Title is, yes.

I BOUGHT the new Rick Ross album because I genuinely wanted to pay him back for the great mixtape he had before.

I really didn't care if the album was good cause that's not what I was paying for

 

[Flychologist]

I just had this discussion a few days ago and the answer is No. Mixtapes at this point in time only do two things.

1 -Train your fanbase to get music from you for free. You put out basically free albums then turn around and expect them to give you money an official one. Why would they? The same site they've been downloading your mixtapes from is going to have a link to download your official album too. Yeah you might get a sales boost but it won't compare to what you've lost. Drake went platinum off a tape he was about to give away for free. How different would his 2015 be if he did that?

2- Feed your buzz and allow booking shows which in turn,feeds your 360 deal. Most of these guys put out mixtapes to get around industry red tape so they can do shows, some put out mixtape in industry plant like fashion with the label backing because they don't spend any money on the mixtape and they'll get money off the shows that come from it. That's why labels let artists put out an album then put out a mixtape a fee weeks later when they should stil be in the stages of pushing the album. Pre 360 deals no label would let an artist do anything until the album had run its course.

In this day and age with music not selling. No signed or established artists should be giving away free music. If it's quality put it on iTunes/Google play and get some money. Worst case scenario is you sell a couple hundred thousand copies of something you didn't plan to sell any of.

 

[Mac Casper]

Lil Wayne released two mixtapes in 2007, that were considered the best mixtapes/best albums of the year, it helped win hottest MC of the year. when his album, Tha Carter III dropped in 2008, he sold a million copies first week. he ended up going 3X Platinum.


Future who recently released three mixtapes that people considered quality, released an album, DS2 last summer and ended up selling more then what he sold on his first and second album.

50 Cent used mixtapes to get him a record deal and a fanbase, he then release some more mixtapes. he became the most hyped up rapper in the game at one point and sold 800,000 on his debut album, GRODT in 2003. he ended up going 8X Platinum.

i think there might be more examples out there but do you think mixtapes that can appeal to people or are considered quality help promote albums.

you're not Lil Wayne

 

[Cryptocurrency Scarface]

low quality mixtapes (audio quality anyway) and a high quality album

Gibbs mixtapes made me wanna get his first album

if you spend big money on production + features you should get money out of it

once you get to a certain level as an artist you don't need to be putting out free mixtapes unless you're generous.