I definitely didn’t want to be the only one who hadn’t blogged about this. Last week, Wick-It the Instigator dropped his new mixtape: The Brothers of Chico Dusty, a mashup record of The Black Keys & Big Boi. I hope you’ve heard it by now. If not, listen below.
It’s been only a week since it was released, but now it’s everywhere. I’ve seen it on just about every music blog that I’ve ever heard of plus a few more. Long time readers know that I have mentioned Wick-It on this blog before. But I have to mention him again. This new record is a case study for how to get attention to yourself and your music. Once again, I want to quote Justin Boland over at Audible Hype. He poses the question “Is Touring Really Necessary…?” then he lists the 5 Core Ingredients for Success Without Touring. Please go read the entire blog entry I just linked. Now, you can’t neglect your live show either, but Justin’s ingredient list is below.
1. Great Music
2. Easily Accessable
3. Prolific Output
4. Evangelist Fans
5. Low Overhead
What Wick-It has done with his career aligns with this perfectly. He had a great mixtape for free download. If you went to his soundcloud or the mashville bandcamp page, you could easily get even more music. His fans have been the ones pushing it to different blogs beyond regular word of mouth. He spent nothing on marketing, and did it in a home studio (which you kind of have to have anyway if you’re a DJ/producer).
It’s been surreal to sit back and see all of the attention that the mixtape has gotten for Wick-It. I’m proud though. And it’s a teachable moment to all musicians, artists, bands, & DJs…even bloggers, actually. Including myself, I think all of us can learn from Wick-It’s example (& Justin’s blueprint) if we want to take over the internet with our music. Wick-It made it look so easy, but it took a lot of hard work to build the overnight splash.
What can we do in the new year to follow this example?
