How Rapper ‘Russ’ Found Fame in Less Than One Year
This unique tactic all but guaranteed him success
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In today’s fast-moving social media world, it’s not rare for a musician to blow up overnight.
That’s why Russ knew he had to get in everyone’s face — and have artillery ready once fans started piling up.
Russ was not a new kid on the block when he blew up in 2015. He had released 11 projects and barely made any headway in the music industry, despite feeling like he was making great music.
After so many flops, he decided to switch up his strategy: he would release one song a week until he blew up.
One Song a Week = Social Media Stardom
Instead of compiling a bunch of songs into an album that people probably wouldn’t listen to, he would give each song its own shine. They would get their own promotion and their own artwork, giving people on social media the chance to digest a small bit of Russ and share it with their friends and followers.
Russ went into his lab for a couple of months to build up a 26-week inventory of songs. He wanted a half-year worth of songs built up so he could have some freedom to make new music.
He had confidence that he’d reach stardom posting one song a week and knew he’d need to be prepared to capitalize on the new attention. So, once he was done recording the 26 songs, he put together his next album, ready for release at any given time.
Prepared for Greatness
Preparation was a large part of Russ’s career to this point. He had taught himself how to do everything in the song-making process so that he didn’t need to rely on anyone.
That preparation got him to the point where he could capture an audience. And by posting one song a week, he did exactly that.
Russ posted his songs on a website called TuneCore, which allows artists to independently publish and make money off of their music. In June 2015, Russ made $620 on the website.
A year later, after the one-song-a-week experiment, Russ made $102,000 in one month. He hasn’t looked back since.
