Chance the…Growth Hacker?

Chance the rapper is not just an artist. He’s an entrepreneur, a marketing genius. He knows how to create movements, inspire audiences, and keep fans loyal. The man was able to change the rules of the Grammys to suit his desires and his fans helped him. But before all of this, Chance was just a normal kid growing up in Chicago.

Chance knew how to hustle from the start

Chance spoke on his early days, when he was starting to work on his first official mixtape, 10 Day.

“I spent eight months making connections, writing, and recording off of the hunger to put something out.” — Chance the Rapper

There’s the word. Hunger. Every entrepreneur talks about. Steve Jobs is notable for Stanford Commencement Address in which his closing line is telling the audience to stay hungry. Chance knew it, Steve Jobs knew it, maybe there’s something we should pay attention to here. You have to work hard and truly want something in order for it to happen.

Developing a Personal Brand

Chance knew from the beginning that developing a personal brand was crucial. He knew that he couldn’t be just a typical rapper if he was going to be independent. He had to be something special, a person that people idolized and could relate to. Chance was different from the other rappers, as you can probably tell by his overalls and his love for God. In developing this brand, Chance not only stood out but caused others to want to stand out as well. Fans saw him as an inspiration, that it’s okay to be different and do your own thing. This strong emotional connection with the fans created loyalty among them, which eventually led to a fan-supported movement to change the rules of the Grammys.

The importance of free music

Another amazing way to connect with fans: give them free music. To iterate further, give them free high quality music. There’s a reason many bedroom rappers never make it out of the bedroom, even if they are giving away all of their music for free. Chance is not just good at marketing, he is genuinely a talented artist. He has production help and features from some of the best artists in the industry. His two most popular mixtapes, Coloring Book and Acid Rap, have features from the likes of Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Justin Bieber. Chance doesn’t sell music, how does he make money??? It’s 2016. Hardly anyone buys music anyways, you might as well give it away for free and sell through other channels. That’s exactly what chance has done.

Having awesome merchandise

The famous Social Experiment hat

Having merchandise that people actually want to buy is important for independent artists. Using famous/noticeable logos (such as album covers) on merchandise will appeal more to fans, causing them to buy more of it. Chance has made his merchandise a staple of his brand. For example, he wears his hat almost everywhere. Wearing your brand is an important part of marketing it.

“I walked around everywhere I went wearing a Silicon Alley Reporter shirt .”— Jason Calacanis, entrepreneur and angel investor @ Uber

Chance has changed the music industry

Chance has led a movement for entrepreneurial artists. Frank Ocean, a popular Hip-Hop/R&B artist, recently followed in Chance’s footsteps in going independent. Many artists are breaking free of the traditional record label and doing everything themselves. This can be related to back in the classical music period where composers, such as Mozart, would leave the patronage system for a freelance system. They’re breaking free from industry shackles and going to work for themselves, in pursuit of creative freedom. Chance has started a revolution and there’s no stopping it now.

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