Tyler, the Creator became the talk of the music industry over the last 2 weeks with the rollout for his new album “Chromakopia”. The album defied typical music industry convention when it released on a Monday instead of Friday (the usual day for album releases, especially from big established artists).

Tyler did a masterful job at world building, IRL activations, and more to engage with his fanbase.

Let’s break down what happened.

This newsletter highlights:

• Tyler, the Creator’s album rollout for “Chromakopia”

Let’s dive in ⬇️

1) The initial tease

Tyler kicked off the album rollout with a trailer that sparked immediate conversation on social media on 10/16.

One day later, on 10/17, Tyler formally announced the album title and release date with its own unique dedicated website.

2) First single - Noid

Tyler dropped the first single, Noid, on Monday 10/21 (establishing the theme of Monday releases for the rollout) accompanied by an official music video.

Tyler consistently does a masterful job at world building with his albums and this one is no different - the visual aesthetic, textures, face mask, etc all play a consistent theme in the visuals to help tell the story.

3) Off cycle

It’s interesting to note that Tyler dropped his new album on a Monday at 6am EST, which is technically off cycle from the industry standard of 12am EST Friday releases. It’s in typical Tyler fashion, doing something unique and deviating from what everyone else is doing.

It ensures he’ll dominate the conversation that day and won’t be competing with any other releases in the crowded and competitive space on Fridays.

This off cycle, Monday release, also technically gave Tyler less days for the album to count towards officially charting. Despite this, the album landed at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 charts.

4) Vinyl

One day after dropping the first single Noid, Tyler launched the pre-order for his test pressing vinyl with a promotional video on socials and YouTube of him playing the vinyl.

5) Tour

Tyler built an incredible amount of momentum in a short time frame with consecutive days of big announcements - from the album announcement, to first single, to vinyl launch, and then a world tour announcement.

With unique visuals in the same aesthetic as the rest of the creative assets, Tyler announced he was going on tour with Lil Yachty and Paris Texas.

5) In real life activations

In typical Tyler fashion, the rollout was full of surprises and fun activations.

For example, this footage went viral of Tyler personally delivering a
“Chromokopia” merch package to unknowing fans in partnership with Postmates. The fans reactions were priceless as they opened the door - imagine opening the door to be greeted by one of your favorite artists personally delivering their new album? That 1 on 1 fan engagement is priceless and a memory that person will have forever.

A few days after the album release, on Saturday Nov 2nd, Tyler did a $5 show in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. He performed on top of a shipping container with the album title on it and looks like the same shipping container used in the album visuals. Always one to be unpredictable, Tyler even arrived to the show on a boat.

The innovative rollout helped Tyler land a #1 album and in my opinion, one of the most fun album rollouts of the year.

Thanks for reading, until next time.