Music Moguls Are the New Media Masters and Their Blueprint Is Free

If you examine YouTube regularly, what has become evidently clear is that nearly all successful brands are now also digital media companies.

Roland Garros, US Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon are tennis organizations yet put full-length classic matches on YouTube, monetizing the viewership.

The Condé Nast media organization has their magazine publications, like Wired and Vogue, with their own concept shows populating YouTube regularly.

The internet at large has media-fied the world.

Today our focus is on hip-hop, or more specifically, UK rapper Central Cee.

With his debut album, Can't Rush Greatness, the UK rapper has "officially" entered his music career. Yet, hip hop fans are well aware of him stateside.

He has a handful of global hit records, his own and features (Doja, Sprinter, etc). Additionally, he has a number of viral freestyles. The most recent with Drake - that birthed the combination meme.

The Free Independent Media Blueprint

Agreement on the comprehensiveness of the album is less relevant to the point of this paper. Which is, Central Cee has given a free blueprint to digital media creators.

• Own your masters

• Release singles and features often

• Collaborate with other artists and platforms

• Create touring revenue off the work

• Then deliver your album

Translating the music terminology for wider application:

Masters → Distribution

Singles & Features → Media & Content

Artists & Platforms → Creators, Brands, & Platforms

Touring → Services

Album → Product

Creators

The album was released today, but I feel fairly confident that it will be a large commercial success.

If/when that happens, Central Cee will be the largest shareholder in his own success. Not the pseudo-banks we call music labels.

This seems like a reproducible equation for podcasters, video creators, influencer accounts, writers, and other media entities in the digital era - if they are willing to work.