If you’ve been wondering how to book shows as a rapper, how to grow on TikTok as a music artist, or how to develop a music marketing growth strategy this episode will be invaluable for you. In this episode of the Modern Music Marketing podcast I got to talk to Outlook The Rapper, who managed to leverage a song with only 1,700 views to get a festival show in Cuba performing for 6,000 people, and created a platform on TikTok that generates over 100,000 views per month.
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Important Points:
Outlook highlights the significance of a strong network involving artists, venues, producers, and promoters. To foster this network, consistently provide value through services, knowledge, or connections. Authentic relationships and genuine help not only build relationships but also drives collective growth.
Both Andrew and Outlook underscore the gradual nature of forging a music career. A valuable strategy involves consistent, steady efforts—be it a brief TikTok video or a fresh Instagram post. Rather than fixating on view counts, prioritize your content’s audience. While not all videos go viral, consistent views will accumulate over time, fostering lasting success.
Outlook openly shares his TikTok success secret: the key is consistently sharing content, no matter how simple it seems. This approach works wonders in cultivating a dedicated fan community. Remember to foster personal connections with them. To take this strategy to the next level, focus on crafting content rooted in your core material—your music. By planning and preparing posts and videos ahead of your music launch, you’re setting the stage for a powerful impact.
Andrew and Outlook both emphasized creating spreadsheets to measure and track your campaign. This will help you understand what works, what doesn’t, and what part of your strategy you should be working on.
Outlook advises musicians to create a system for everything you do so that 80% of your results only come from 20% of the work, whether it’s a posting schedule, email distribution lists, or income calculator. Set ways to make work more efficient. This will give you more time to make music.
Podcast Outline:
[01:17] Outlook shared that he started playing house gigs by identifying which venues have events and pitched himself. – Outlook
[02:24] To help him open more doors, Outlook networked with other artists. – Outlook
[03: 51] A guy from Havana, Cuba, saw his video and invited him to collaborate. A project which ended up being nominated for the Cuban Music Award – Outlook
[05:17] Attending the Cuban Music Award was a surprise for Outlook. He played with the band to a big crowd of 6,000 people. – Outlook
[06:39] It’s not about how many people heard your music, but who are the people listening to them? – Outlook
[08:07] Outlook encouraged artists always to try and level up even when they’re scared. One thing that can help them is to look back at the challenges they’ve overcome. – Outlook
[10:05] When collaborating with someone, think of it as an opportunity to show what value you can bring to the table. – Outlook
[14:35] Andrew and Outlook agree to the 80-20 rule: 80% of the results should come from 20% of the work. – Andrew and Outlook
[17:48] Andrew emphasized that building a career in Music takes a long time. Sometimes, there will be days you’ll be inching forward. – Andrew
[19:18] Outlook is heavily investing in TikTok, learning what makes it work. He consistently creates content to test and try on the platform. – Outlook
[22:03] Outlook mentioned that while your videos might not go viral, the views gradually add up. Over time, you’ll start to see more and more people watching your videos. – Outlook
[24:15] Andrew and Outlook discussed how, unlike other platforms, TikTok videos that trend are often the simplest to make- Andrew and Outlook
[27:05] Outlook believes that over time if you consistently post videos on TikTok, you will develop a community of core fans. – Outlook
[29:12] Andrew and Outlook talked about how some artists engage their core followers on TikTok, eventually getting their Spotify stream and profiles to go viral. – Outlook
[30:44] Outlook strategically plans how he’ll promote his song at least a month before its release. He considers what specific materials and parts of the song he’ll use. – Outlook
[31:23] Outlook encouraged artists to make sure to measure the data on TikTok over time to see what works and what doesn’t. – Outlook
[32:58] Outlook encouraged artists to be financially literate and learn how to handle, manage and invest what they earn. – Outlook
[34:08] Outlook encouraged artists to read the book: I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Dave Ramsey. – Outlook
[37:52] Outlook shared how he looks at his career like an Xbox game, he levels up with every new challenge and goal he sets for himself. – Outlook
[39:55] Outlook makes his finances work by looking at ways where he can make sacrifices so he can invest time or money to make more music. – Outlook
[42:24] When you want it so much, you’ll find ways to make it work. – Outlook
[44:13] Outlook thinks that if you set out to impress people, you’ll end up disappointed. It’s best to do something because you love it. – Outlook
[47:05] Outlook believes if he consistently creates content, he’ll be able to live off his music. – Outlook
[48:17] Andrew mentioned he invests in project expansions and seeks ways to pool funds, avoiding out-of-pocket expenses. – Andrew
[53:00] Outlook suggests that if you’re making money from your music, consider it as running a business. Set up systems to make work efficient and to track finances. – Outlook
Wise Words:
[06:39] This song only had like 1,700 views. I was performing it on stage in front of 6,000 people. You know what I mean? I was performing in front of way more people than had ever even streamed the song. Yeah. And what it made me realize is, you know, especially when you’re trying to get your feet under you and really establish yourself, [06:59] in this industry, you know, it’s less about how many people are seeing your music and more about who’s seeing it, right? – Outlook
[07:57] And what keeps me really pushing through the hard times is remembering back when I thought playing a gig in front of 10 people was like the ultimate challenge. And I just know, like, as you keep progressing, it’s like you’re playing a video game. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like when you play level one, you’re not going to do very good the first time you play it. But once you’re on level 40, you look back, and you’re like, “Oh, level one was easy,” but you’re still scared of level a hundred. You know what I mean? – Outlook
[09: 39] You know, one saying that you probably heard is that opportunity is just a combination of luck and preparation. So you only had a relatively small amount of streams, but just because the right person saw it, that was the luck part. The preparation is you’re the type of person who’s willing to take advantage of that opportunity. And you already had songs ready to perform. – Andrew
[30:44] The strategy I’m really trying to implement right now is, like, all right, from before I’ve even made the song until a month after I’ve released it, I want to know what I’m doing each step of the way. Like, all right, I make this song with this goal, and then I make these pieces of content for that song. And then, I run these ads on that song while having this TikTok content strategy.- Outlook
[33:00] I think the piece of the equation that people don’t talk about enough is having financial literacy. Yeah, because that’s the boring part, right? People don’t want to sit there and crunch their numbers, but in reality, I guarantee you there are so many areas where you’re wasting money, and that money is time that you could be spending on your music. Or that’s, that’s time that you don’t have to spend working that can free you to be able to do music, right? – Outlook
[42:04] I’m not worried about what people think of me. I’m not worried about being rich… Obviously, I’m going to figure out how to push this to a point where I don’t have to work a job. I don’t want, and I can do music all day. But I’m telling you…I wake up happy, man, ’cause I’m doing what I love.- Outlook
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If you enjoyed this interview you might also like this one I did with Battz on how he grew to 287k TikTok followers, 1,100 YouTube subscribers, 6,100 Instagram followers and 1,400 Spotify followers 100% DIY, all in one year.
