Lastly, so as not to forget his digital roots, Soulja launched his latest app called Soulja Boy App, a picture-sharing program that fosters live conversations. Pieces from the hip-hop retailer make front-and-center cameos in his recent music videos, along with a custom line of Hookah pens the fruits of a newly formed partnership with Phantom Hookah-pens. With a pending Zumiezdeal in the pipeline, the fledgling clothing company is yet another way Soulja is expanding his branded-self into new marketplaces. Today, they’re in 2,000 locations worldwide, selling 100,000 units per month. But what he seems most excited about is the clothing line, BLVD Supply, for which he's a spokesperson. Currently he is on the We Made It tour promoting the album.Īside from his music he's focused on his own indie label, Stacks on Deck Entertainment, which hosts a whole slew of hip hop artists. There are records I go crazy on." But, above all else he is focused on continuing the momentum. Soulja enthusiastic about the project exclaimed "it goes hard - its very hip hop. On July 29th the day after Soulja's birthday, he released King Soulja 3. “At age 17, I signed my publishing rights away,” citing one of his biggest lessons learned, and the reason he is so adamant about owning all of one's own content, something one of his colleagues, Birdman, preaches. Ownership of content and publishing rights is critical to artists today, he stresses. Write for other artists, produce your own records – and merch." Early in his career, his biggest mistake came from not understanding the publishing end of the music industry. Put your music on iTunes, Best Buy, Target, EPs, albums. When I ask him about advice for up and coming acts, without hesitation he rattles off, “Sell your content, don’t put out any mixtapes. He developed a kind of intimate stardom we've seen become the norm, making a celeb’s brand just as much about their lifestyle and swagger as their music. Soulja has influenced Internet-born stars like Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller and even Justin Bieber (who he is often seen hanging out with on Instagram). Shortly after their meeting, Soulja was signed to Interscope. In a meeting with Interscope co-founder, Jimmy Iovine, Soulja showed him the metrics on album and track downloads, most of which could be attributed to his MySpace community. In 2007 he released the self-produced, ‘Crank That.’ His fan-base not only embraced it but made it go viral - eventually spring-boarding him into to the mainstream. “It’s actually me, other artists have their team or label tweeting and talking to fans but I always thought it was dope to speak to the fans directly.” His presence on Myspace grew dramatically, laying the groundwork for a dedicated core fan base. And it was more than just a few people who gravitated toward his sound.īefore it was encouraged or expected for musicians to have a digital social presence, Soulja relentlessly stayed connected with his fans. People eagerly - and unknowingly - downloaded his songs, only to realize later that it was not the King of Pops’ ‘Billy Jean.’ However questionable this method may have been, it gained him one thing above all else: exposure. Using programs like Limewire, he’d upload his songs, tagging A-listers in the title fields (artists like, Michael Jackson and 50 Cent, to name a few), in hopes of catching a wider set of potential listeners. One of Soulja’s early approaches to the Internets’ publishing platforms was, if anything, unconventional.
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