Rapper Tyler, The Creator last put out an album (Igor) in 2019 but has been reasonably active on social media since then.
On 9th May, he marked the 10th anniversary of Goblin, his debut solo album. Ten days later he retweeted the Lollapalooza account with its summer 2021 line up (where, unsurprisingly, he was one of the headliners).
Then on 14th June, he posted a 39-second video on Twitter with the title “SIDE STREET” where he is seen hanging out of a pink car while kissing a girl on the pavement. He drives off, her boyfriend appears and asks her who the person in the car was. “No one,” she replies as easy listening music plays in the background. The phrase “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” appears on the screen as the same words are sung.
The following day, he posted a US phone number (1-855-444-8888). Calling it put you through to a pre-recorded message from him where he rapped a cappella from a new song. The next day, he posted a 79-second video clip entitled “LUMBERJACK” which was revealed later that same day to be the lead single from his new album. The day after that he posted, “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST: JUNE 25TH” and linked to the Call Me If You Get Lost website which contained links to pre-order different bundled versions of the album.
The D2C bundle variations included a T-shirt, a poster and a commemorative box (?) as well as the album either on cassette or CD for the incredibly reasonable price of $25 each (sadly only available to US customers). They were limited to four per customer and, unsurprisingly, they had all sold out in a matter of days.
It was all a relatively straightforward teaser campaign where, within three days, it was confirmed that a new album was coming; but it is the D2C side that intrigued us most. Usually pre-orders are there to drive fans to purchase a range of bundles that get incrementally more expensive (see the Metallica campaign below), but you get an awful lot for your money if you were lucky enough to snap up one of the $25 offers.
It is unlikely, but we can only hope more artists follow his lead to give fans more bang for their merchandise buck rather than treating them as money trees to be endlessly shaken.
