Indie musician Yung Cudii discusses how he builds his fan base
Cudii describes the different ways he brings attention to his music.
The hardest thing to do in any art is to be heard. Getting people to pay attention is no easy task, but indie artist Yung Cudii finds ways to attract listeners to his music. CRY spoke to him about some of his strategies.
CRY: How do you think about releasing music? We interviewed an artist named Rosie Monday. She said she did this thing where she released a song every single Monday. How do you think about releasing music, though?
YUNG CUDII
Me and my manager spoke about that. How I do it is if I’m releasing a song for next Friday, I’ll build up the hype for it. I’ll do an Instagram post saying 500 comments and I’ll drop the song next Friday. I’ve promoted through different Instagram accounts like Straight Heat, Rap central and many more. To me, if I’m releasing a song that I put my all into, I want to see it do the number it’s deserves you know.
CRY: You started off by yourself but you mentioned that you have a manager. How important is it to have a manager and a team?
YUNG CUDII
So three years into my career I had no manager. I never thought of myself needing a manager. Music to me was just releasing music and waiting for the best thing to happen, and during that time, nothing was happening. I was just staying the same because no one was there to push me. No one was there to guide me. But last year when I finished high school…we dropped the album, it ended up being on the charts and that’s when I realized that you actually need a manager because as an artist, you can only do so much.
CRY: You have a really engaged following on Instagram. What’s your approach to social media? Why do you think your audience is so engaged?
YUNG CUDII
I find that a lot of artists aren’t getting the right exposure because of the way they promote themselves. Personally to me Instagram is a huge tool to this music industry. For my fans to stay engaged I usually go on live stream a lot, post snippets [and stuff like that]. Overall just staying active. But one of the best ways to network yourself on Instagram is to simply pay a big account to post your content on their page. This is an easy way to get exposure in different parts of the world.
CRY: Do you do anything outside of social media to get your art and to get your audience engaged?
YUNG CUDII
Before this Corona thing, I was performing at parties and doing shows. How I look at it is, say a promoter booked me to open for a bigger artist. With all the promotion that I’ll put into it I would say at least half the people that are going are my fans. So that means I’m left with the other half of the show not knowing who I am. But usually by the end of my performance, all those people who haven’t listened to my music now start listening and eventually become a fan
CRY: Why music?
YUNG CUDII
I remember watching the MTV awards with my brother as a kid and seeing Soulja Boy and Chris Brown accomplish their dreams at a young age. After that I felt inspired. I remember telling myself that If they can do it I can too. shortly after that I began freestyling and writing music.
CRY
Follow Yung Cudii on his Instagram or listen to his music on Spotify.
