Kanye West Ushers in the Experiential Album Release
By simultaneously launching three projects at once, Kanye West has shown the rest of the music industry how to successfully ally technology to ambition.
By simultaneously launching three projects at once, Kanye West has shown the rest of the music industry how to successfully ally technology to ambition.
The orthodox methodology used in the promotion of new albums is a quickly deteriorating model. More engaged and knowledgeable consumers are now so well acquainted that the traditional approach has tended to breed disinterest.
In a bid to revolutionise the game, and to reignite interest, artists from Beyoncé to Bowie have spontaneously released full-length albums without prior warning. Given that their sales figures remained unaffected, this approach was vindicated. However, fans have begun to expect the ‘unexpected album’, defeating its purpose entirely.
Kanye West, an artist whose genius remains undiminished by a predisposition to launch into what often sounds like the existential rants of a drunkard, has singularly upped the ante regarding project releases.
As the lobby of Madison Square Garden thrummed with anticipative tension, (20,000 tickets to the experience sold out in 10 minutes), Kanye West prepped what could be the first experiential album release ever.
The launch of the Yeezy Season 3 Collection, his new album, ‘The Life of Pablo’, and a previously unannounced video game, (designed hand in hand with Tidal) based on his mother’s ascent into heaven, are a culmination of his singular ambition to not be limited, but also speak to a broader trend.
By live streaming the event, he satiated the social media induced, contemporary need for quality, instantaneous content, (the entire spectacle was extremely Instagrammable). Managing to simultaneously connect with his fans visually, viscerally and musically. Causing them to feel like participants, rather than mere spectators.
Should attempts be made to emulate Kanye’s choreographed evening of muti-sensory activity, technological tie-ins are bound to proliferate. Their inclusion will increase the scope for an artist’s ambition to be fully realised, alongside stimulating and re-engaging existent fans, while helping to generate new ones.
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