Last night at the Diageo world headquarters, the stage appeared to be set for a grand entrance by Sean "Diddy" Combs on his 46th birthday gift. Hip-hop's wealthiest mogul had just dropped a new mixtape, MMM, a tribute to Mekhi Phifer's character in the 2002 film Paid In Full, released for free across the internet via Soundcloud.
High above the streets of Manhattan, his guests noshed on filet mignon and foie gras appetizers while sipping drinks from a bar stocked with every flavor of Diddy's DeLeon tequila and Ciroc vodka, including the newly-launched apple variant. A Diageo spokesperson strolled to the front of the room and announced that she was turning over the event to Mr. Sean Combs--and promptly turned on a large flat-screen television on the wall.
"Every time we drop a new flavor, the internet goes crazy," explained Diddy in a clip from Late Night With Seth Meyers. "It's like dropping a new iPhone."
The maneuver was classic Diddy--a bait-and-switch that simultaneously made onlookers feel disappointed to have missed him, but left them with a whiff of his essence and wanting more. The "more" part can be found on MMM, which he describes as follows on the opening track:
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Money Making Mitch is this fairy tale, you know, about this fly n*gga from Harlem that came up and he did his thing, man. He was shinin' on them, stylin' on them, showin' em how to do it, showin' em how to get it. Maybe he was getting it the wrong way, but you know, the fairytale of it is most brothers or sisters end up dead or in jail. But check this out, with this fairytale that I created in my brain. Imagine that Mitch lived, survived, took those different talents and attributes and business skills and applied it to the world of business."
Appropriately, Diddy's two birthday presents to himself reveal a blueprint for diversified big-name musicians to make money on new music. It seems he saw that, with the current state of the music business, he might be able to sell a couple hundred thousand copies of MMM as a traditional album--loose change for a man worth more than $700 million.
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In releasing MMM for free at the same time as the new Ciroc flavor, he instead got his music--and his advertising message ("Let that Ciroc flow!" he says in the mixtape's first full song)--out to a much larger audience, generating much greater value for himself and his business partners. An album might have added a high six-figure or low seven-figure sum to his bottom line. It's hard to put a precise value on advertising, but remember Samsung paid Jay Z $5 million to launch his last album through its phones.
uncaptioned
Gallery: Hip-Hop's Five Wealthiest Artists 2015
11 images
View gallery
Of course, this is sort of what Diddy has been doing all along. Even during his heyday as a recording artist, he always had an eye on the bigger business prize, be it Sean John clothing or his restaurants or a career as a movie star. Whatever he was doing, he sold a dream.
"This is the fairytale man, and fairytales do come true," he puts it at the beginning of MMM. "Cause we got millions of cats that's coming up with that hustler spirit and drive. They got that Mitch in 'em. And they ain't gonna fall to the wayside. They gonna take their street smarts and run the world."
Diddy's music has always had its share of critics, and this time will be no different. But it's hard to argue he's not being true to the spirit of MMM.
For more about the business of music, check out my Jay Z biography, Empire State of Mind, and my other book, Michael Jackson, Inc. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
source - https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2015/11/05/diddys-birthday-gifts-to-himself-offer-blueprint-for-launching-music/#7c791d233793
High above the streets of Manhattan, his guests noshed on filet mignon and foie gras appetizers while sipping drinks from a bar stocked with every flavor of Diddy's DeLeon tequila and Ciroc vodka, including the newly-launched apple variant. A Diageo spokesperson strolled to the front of the room and announced that she was turning over the event to Mr. Sean Combs--and promptly turned on a large flat-screen television on the wall.
"Every time we drop a new flavor, the internet goes crazy," explained Diddy in a clip from Late Night With Seth Meyers. "It's like dropping a new iPhone."
The maneuver was classic Diddy--a bait-and-switch that simultaneously made onlookers feel disappointed to have missed him, but left them with a whiff of his essence and wanting more. The "more" part can be found on MMM, which he describes as follows on the opening track:
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Money Making Mitch is this fairy tale, you know, about this fly n*gga from Harlem that came up and he did his thing, man. He was shinin' on them, stylin' on them, showin' em how to do it, showin' em how to get it. Maybe he was getting it the wrong way, but you know, the fairytale of it is most brothers or sisters end up dead or in jail. But check this out, with this fairytale that I created in my brain. Imagine that Mitch lived, survived, took those different talents and attributes and business skills and applied it to the world of business."
Appropriately, Diddy's two birthday presents to himself reveal a blueprint for diversified big-name musicians to make money on new music. It seems he saw that, with the current state of the music business, he might be able to sell a couple hundred thousand copies of MMM as a traditional album--loose change for a man worth more than $700 million.
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In releasing MMM for free at the same time as the new Ciroc flavor, he instead got his music--and his advertising message ("Let that Ciroc flow!" he says in the mixtape's first full song)--out to a much larger audience, generating much greater value for himself and his business partners. An album might have added a high six-figure or low seven-figure sum to his bottom line. It's hard to put a precise value on advertising, but remember Samsung paid Jay Z $5 million to launch his last album through its phones.
uncaptioned
Gallery: Hip-Hop's Five Wealthiest Artists 2015
11 images
View gallery
Of course, this is sort of what Diddy has been doing all along. Even during his heyday as a recording artist, he always had an eye on the bigger business prize, be it Sean John clothing or his restaurants or a career as a movie star. Whatever he was doing, he sold a dream.
"This is the fairytale man, and fairytales do come true," he puts it at the beginning of MMM. "Cause we got millions of cats that's coming up with that hustler spirit and drive. They got that Mitch in 'em. And they ain't gonna fall to the wayside. They gonna take their street smarts and run the world."
Diddy's music has always had its share of critics, and this time will be no different. But it's hard to argue he's not being true to the spirit of MMM.
For more about the business of music, check out my Jay Z biography, Empire State of Mind, and my other book, Michael Jackson, Inc. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
source - https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2015/11/05/diddys-birthday-gifts-to-himself-offer-blueprint-for-launching-music/#7c791d233793
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