How one rap battle crew remixed its VOD business

Creative director Liam Bagnall and the rest of the Don’t Flop crew have been offering the best in British rap battles on Vimeo On Demand for over a year. Battle rap is a movement that’s evolved quite a bit in the last few years and is now on a different trajectory from hip-hop. There’s no beat — it’s all about two rappers sparring with pre-written rhymes, though there’s a healthy mix of freestyle as well. The battle-rap craze has spawned a number of leagues around the world, and rap battles have become huge online as well, with the most famous feuds racking up millions of views. (I personally became aware of the phenomenon a few years ago from Don’t Flop’s legendary battle Mark Grist vs. Blizzard, showcasing hilarious bout between a teacher and a teenager.)

Don’t Flop organizes regular events in the U.K. (and recently in the U.S.), inviting battlers to the stage to throw their best rhymes and wow a packed audience. The biggest shows are filmed, and Don’t Flop quickly edits and uploads the battles, so that fans around the world can stream them online the day after.

In the past, most online battle-rap videos were ad supported. But Don’t Flop found that by making the switch to Vimeo On Demand, they not only made a lot more money from selling the videos, but they were also able to stage bigger events and increase pay to performers due to that extra online revenue. Given Don’t Flop’s emergence as a leader in the rap-battle business, we wanted to reach out and hear their perspective on how Vimeo On Demand has helped boost their web presence and grow their company.

Vimeo: How long have you been running rap battle events?

Don’t Flop: We have been running events for the past seven years. We are commemorating that achievement with a huge event this month called “7BW — 7th Birthday Weekend.”

Were you always posting videos online?

Since the beginning, we have uploaded videos to YouTube. There have been many battles that haven’t been uploaded, but the format was always to upload so the world could see them.

How did you decide to offer rap battle videos for sale on Vimeo On Demand?

We had been toying with the idea of making [them] PPV [pay-per-view] for years, but we felt like the YouTube platform had spoilt people so that they wouldn’t want to pay for our videos. We didn’t want to run the risk of all the content being bootlegged and not making any money online. It felt like a risky maneuver that could compromise our video views on YouTube. Last year we decided to give it a test and it worked out incredibly well, so it has become a strategy we implement with all our major events.

How important is Vimeo On Demand to your business now?

VOD has become a crucial part of our business. It allows us to [not only] throw bigger events and pay more artists, but [it] also helps pay staff and take care of business needs. Without VOD, we would have to rely on YouTube which really doesn’t pay that much for views — so we would be having a difficult time staying afloat.

Why did you choose Vimeo On Demand?

We chose Vimeo as they take a fair cut of profits — 10% — and the VOD system allows us to upload the videos for viewing the day after the event and control the footage. This not only makes sure videos are backed up and copyrighted online, but also that there are no issues with the viewing like there can be during live PPVs.

What are the most effective techniques you use to raise awareness for your releases?

The most effective technique is having a decent amount of hype built for the events via public response on social media. Also we make event trailers that we upload direct to Facebook and YouTube. They appear to really help us each time on the more successful events.

Do the rappers in the battles help get the word out about your releases?

We give rappers images and clips for the event to promote it and also give them access codes so they can watch all the performances. They subsequently make hype posts encouraging their fan bases to purchase the PPV.

What’s your number one tip for anyone considering selling videos online?

My top tip would be to make sure you are creating a product people will be happy paying for again and again. That means great video, great audio, and great content.

Thanks, Don’t Flop!

Originally published on the Vimeo Blog. Follow Vimeo on Twitter or Facebook to stay informed about future case studies. You can also follow me on Twitter or Tumblr.