Chris Stussy shared a 100% unreleased mix on Trommel Music's Soundcloud on April 4, 2019.
This mix is how I discovered Chris Stussy. Now granted, this is four years after Stussy started to release music but I have found so many artists from mixes like this. If you are struggling to create content for Instagram, create content for anything other than Instagram.
Chris Stussy has a playlist on Soundcloud with 40 mixes. To show you how much Stussy has grown in the last few years: his Trommel mix has 166k plays in four years. His set from Beams London has 155k in three months. His Awakenings Festival set has 230k views on YouTube.
Chris Stussy has created demand.
Underground music is about creating content people haven’t heard before. That’s why an unreleased mix works so well for emerging artists. It’s new. Because it’s new, it will generate listens. ‘ID’ comments. Shares from the artists featured. Fans will listen not once, but twice. Maybe even three times. They will scroll the comment section until they find that tune.
Now you’re not telling them to do this. They are doing this by themselves. They are digging, searching your name, and asking questions about ‘IDs’ at time stamps.
In this game, you need to create demand. If there is one thing Chris Stussy has done better than most in the last five years, it’s creating demand. That’s why he’s where he is now in 2023.
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Chris Stussy is street-smart.
In my coaching sessions and in his newsletter, I talk a lot about a secondary interest alongside music.
Ewan McVicar’s is football. Will Clarke’s is food. For Chris Stussy, it’s high-street fashion and photography.
The charm of outdoor city content is it’s raw and relatable – this works well with his audience.
Chris even has a second Instagram page that is more street-smart than his artist page. This page has an analogue feel and focuses on life on tour and sneakers.
Chris Stussy is the king of Instagram carousels.
Chris Stussy’s use of carousels from club shows is elite.
To put this in perspective, Stussy has only posted three Reels since June 2022.
So what does he do so well with carousels?
Let’s break down the post (above) from his recent tour of Australia.
This post consists of eight short videos from a day and night party at S.A.S.H. Only one of them is over 30 seconds.
Your videos do not need to be one minute long.
Your audience does not have 8 minutes to watch eight videos.
Does your audience have 3 minutes to watch eight bangers? Yes.
So let’s talk about the videos.
Four of them are from the day party. Four of them are from the night party. Four are from the DJ booth (all at different angles). Four are from the dance floor. The best video is from an elevated terrace.
To capture good videos most people stand still. Great video content is about angles. This carousel shows the audience multiple different angles of the same party. That’s what you need to be shooting.
Invested in a content creator
Chris Stussy’s best decision is to hire a content creator who can create both photos and videos on the road.
Every artist thinks the secret is a manager or a booking agent.
Find a loyal content creator who can do both photos and videos. Create demand.
His name is Tim Jonker. His work is elite. Chris’s social media strategy rolls from day to day with ease, showing his audience moments from the studio, the airport, the club and the streets because Chris has Tim around at almost every gig.
Now a content creator requires a budget. But with how social media works in 2023, it will be the best investment you ever make.
Andrew at Socially Sound 🧢
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