The 10 Point Skrillex Plan For Getting The Grammy
For a lot of people Skrillex came out of nowhere despite the fact that he's been steadily building for quite some time. I discovered him when walking by the Asheville Civic Center. I saw a huge lively crowd leaving a show and found out it was a performance by Skrillex. But, like so many others, I didn't start paying close attention until he got 5 Grammy nominations. How did he do it? Maybe he had a 10 Point Plan!
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Getting 5 Grammy nominations, including becoming the first DJ to ever be nominated for Best New Artist, and being paired with The Doors, for a project that includes such djs and producers as DJ Premier, Mark Ronson and The Crystal Method, tells you that Skrillex has been putting in work. Such a rise is a nonlinear process but here are some tips on how it's done.
The 10 Point Skrillex Plan for Getting That Grammy
1) Stay on the Grind
Skrillex is described as working constantly but says it's not about drugs, it's about avoiding R.E.M. sleep.
2) Build Organically
He and his team built organically through digital releases, social networking and live shows rather than through advertising.
3) Focus on the Fans, Not the Press
Though Skrillex has definitely gotten attention along the way, people were searching for him before the media was driving them.
4) Give It Away, Then Sell It
Even when Skrillex did a track with Korn, they gave it away before releasing it for sale.
5) Brand It
Skrillex' 2010 EP "My Name Is Skrillex" was given away free and the music is still available for free streaming but there's nothing subtle about the branding.
6) Mainstream the Underground
Skrillex has received quite a bit of hate from purists who attack the transformation of dubstep into brostep but he's all about reaching the masses and loving his fans.
7) Ignore the Haters
If it's true that "haters make you famous", Skrillex has done a nice job of ignoring the hate while it builds his fame.
8) Get the Cosign
Deadmau5 released the second Skrillex EP, "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites," giving Skrillex a major cosign in the growing electronic dance music scene.
9) Pass On the Favors
Skrillex expanded his sphere of influence when he launched OWSLA Records and released Porter Robinson's "Spitfire" EP.
10) Do You Until You Are You
Skrillex worked his way from screamo singer to dubstep dj to being Skrillex. He seems comfortable yet focused and driven. Sometimes it takes a while to truly become yourself.
Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Re brand it 5, the album isn’t available for free on that page despite what the images say.
You can still grab it on Soundcloud though
http://soundcloud.com/user1783898/sets/my-name-is-skrillex-ep
I’m a Skrillex hater. Sorry. Skrillex and The Doors – fucking tragic!
It actually links through to what you’re linking but none of it looks official, I realize, and I found the stuff to stream from Skrillex’ site and updated.
I have mixed feelings about Skrillex but that certainly didn’t seem to be a very good combination.
The Majority of the above mentioned points are valid, but in my opinion have NOTHING to do with a Grammy Nomination.
Do those steps lead to exposure, recognition, gigs, and maybe even album sales?
Sure.
The Grammy’s are not built on a strict meritocracy, and the nominees and winners are decided through something more similar to the Electoral College than a Popular Vote (though the above steps could potentially get you a win in the latter).
Skrillex is talented, and hard working, yes. Whether his music suits your taste is subjective. His success though is a very specific path, at a specific point in time, and the above mentioned points will not necessarily translate to everyone.
As far as the Grammy’s are concerned, in my opinion this is a way for them to get some new young eyeballs on the screen for when they open that envelope…
Good point. I’m actually using the Grammy noms as a signifier of success.
I could care less about the Grammys. It’s a marketing tool for those that get them and that’s all that matters to me.
I don’t even watch them or check the lists of who won. I just see the headlines and, in this case, find out more about the artist if it’s someone like Skrillex that I’ve been hearing about but haven’t checked out.
Honestly, if Billboard.biz hadn’t covered the business angle, since I didn’t see anybody else do anything substantial, I probably would never have pitched this idea in the first place.
Scary Monsters is a a great track and he mixed it straight off of a laptop. This is the first time i have heard of someone mixing a track on their laptop and getting a grammy nomination. on top of that, he made his own brand of dubstep that is quite melodic and complex. i think he deserves his success. with that said, i am haven’t heard the doors track yet. Not sure if that makes much sense.
It helps he knew the industry to an extent to begin with (with From First to Last), plus he was able to craft a very unique sound that is now influencing the American form of dubstep. Big Skrillex fan.
This is a silly article. I mean really silly. It is mis-titled, reads as if it was written in twenty minutes, clearly was not proofed by a sub-editor and generally fails on it’s intent.
It’s amateurishly written, lacks a journalistic focus and mistakes the concept of a plan with that of a sequence of events. Hypebot has a much higher standard and it’s readers expect more.
1. Clyde Smith has trouble spelling the subject’s name. Its Skrillex not Scrillex. (Are you serious??)
2. Had you done your homework you would know Skrillex has a name, Sonny Moore. It’s polite to refer to people by name.
3. Before DJing he was in From First to Last, which incidentally I listened to in high school and another commenter pointed out. This is a crucial contextual point in his musical career which has relevance in the context of what motivated the Skrillex alias, its creative direction and work ethic too. Browse the comments – the readers know more than the writer does.
4.It’s hardly a “plan.” Before purporting your article as Skrillex’s own plan, or masterly crafted strategy you perhaps should have asked him for comment – that’s typically what decent writers do of their subjects. The fact that’s inaccessible as Skrillex is no excuse. Hypebot is a hugely popular editorial figure in the music business, why aren’t you leveraging it?
5. This is poor: “Such a rise is a nonlinear process but here are some tips on how it’s done.” Oh really, is that so? Show me where you causally link Skrillex’s nominations to the points you made. A high school kid on Absolutepunk could’ve written this better.
Please DO you homework and have some integrity for the global readership. You only end up looking stupid in a transparent social media sphere.
You seem really worked up. I appreciate sincerity but I think you’re overdoing it!
I think you’re missing that I’m writing in a marketing genre. Perhaps you’re simply unfamiliar with the idea of using a celebrity’s name to make a point. It’s a convention of the genre.
Of course Skrillex doesn’t have a 10 point plan. If he did, I’d be quoting him.