US rapper JPEGMafia turned to Reddit to push a run of shows around the time the Delta variant was impacting. The threat of lockdown and fan nervousness about going to shows meant that ticket sales across the board were proving sluggish. 

As many of his fans were active on Reddit, the strategy was for him to appear on multiple subreddits where those fans congregated in order to whip up excitement about his music and shows.

Talya Elitzer, co-founder of artist development company Godmode who represent JPEGMafia, recently told Music Business Worldwide, “He has a pretty crazy community of kids who are all on Reddit so we had JPEG infiltrate Reddit dropping hints, never before seen photos of him and then new music.”

This all led up to running an exclusive pre-sale that was only available through Reddit threads about JPEGMafia. 

There was no mention of this pre-sale anywhere else on his social media posts, thereby making the Reddit community feel special and valued. In a way, it was acting as a reward for those fans who are most enthusiastically posting about him, his music and their fandom within a particular community. 

Elitzer stated that 80% of the tickets for the tour were sold via Reddit, with the fans clearly responding to the fact that they were being prioritised like this. 

Reddit can be an exhilarating place, for both good and bad reasons. Artists, managers and labels cannot control the conversations there – and any attempt to do so will (rightly so) be met with huge resistance. 

It is important to understand that, for the most part, these are communities who love a particular artist and finding ways to nurture and reward that enthusiasm should be a priority, not trying to steer what they talk about. 

Things do not have to be just about pushing sales but, when they are, the tone needs to be right. JPEGMafia was a textbook example of selling something that made fans feel prized rather than treated as compliant wallets.