Summary
Spotify India ne kiya hip hop ka scene change The streets have played an important role in transforming Emiway Bantai's hip hop career. So, to launch his latest album 'King Of The Streets' on Spotify, we revisited the same streets, shot 5 intimate films, and a 5-minute documentary capturing his journey from freestyling with his friends to becoming the biggest independent musician in India. These social-first films were watched more than 10 Million times and
Challenge
The idol for millions of young rap fans, Emiway Bantai has grown considerably in terms of talent and music. But the streaming numbers growing with him were in favour of YouTube, with 20 MN subscribers. When we compared it to our 2.9 MN listener base, we knew it was time to grow Emiway's fanbase on Spotify.
Objective
Spotify wanted to increase listenership for desi hip hop in India. And Emiway Bantai has changed the scene of hip hop with every song. The Mumbai based rapper & songwriter started off in 2013 and turned out to become the biggest independent musician in India with almost 150+ songs, all independently. His new album King Of The Streets was set to launch in the first week of June. An album that covered his entire journey. With 17 songs in the album, it was time for Spotify to become the Bantai of music streaming apps. Our task was to increase Emiway's fan base on the app and deepen the relationship with the hip hop community.
Strategy
The streets have played an important role in transforming Emiway Bantai's hip hop career. Streets taught him how to rap, hustle and never give up. In most of his music videos, he showed his hood where he freestyled with his friends and other artists. So, locations became the key landmarks to share Bantai's story on Spotify. Emiway Bantai completed 10 years in the hip hop industry, and in his new album King of the Streets, was a message to the world that an independent artist can go on from hustling on the streets to ruling them. To share his story, we revisited the streets and picked locations that symbolize important moments in Emiway's career.
Data
Hop Hip rivalries have blessed us with hot lines and hotter songs. Clashing head-to-head encourages artists to make comebacks, leading to loyal fan bases. So, to promote KOTS on Spotify, we didn't target the entire hip hop community in India, we went after Emiway's hardcore fans and artists who were associated with him. We also studied the search volume from his YouTube channel and made our presence felt strongly in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Nagpur, Indore, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Patna & Lucknow amongst the 18-34 age group.
Solution
It was more than an album marketing campaign, it was a stepping stone to establish a piece of Emiway's legacy. So, we executed the campaign in a way where we could share his story with not just India, but the world. We shot 5 films with Emiway focused on telling the story of how he became the King of the Streets. Unlike any music video, these films were mapped to the songs from the album. These films went LIVE during the launch of the album creating more buzz and driving traffic to Spotify. And as collab posts, the films helped Spotify India increase follower base on social media. A 5-minute documentary was also created where we took Emiway back to his roots, his streets. He narrated his story and inspired young fans to believe in their talent and become king of the streets one day, just like him. Amplification on OOH, content seeding, and culmination at Times Square We strategically chose 10 locations to promote the album. These locations were connected to Emiway Bantai's journey & the hip hop culture. These hoardings also turned into Emiway Bantai appreciation posts. We looked at larger music community tie-ups to increase the visibility of the campaign by partnering with pages like, Music Community, The Indian Music Diaries and That Music Project. Known as the mecca of OOH, we featured Emiway Bantai's, King of the Streets album on Times square billboard, turning New Yorkers into bantai ki public!
Results
In Emiway's words, macha diya! - KOTS films were viewed more than 9.8 MN times with 25 MN impressions. - We partnered with fan pages and to amplify our films and that got us: Reach – 68.7 K | Impressions – 71 K | Views – 70 K - We even partnered with relevant music community pages Views – 84 K | Engagement – 74 K
