Ryan Leslie SuperPhone App: How He made $2 million from only 15,000 Fans

After reading this Forbes article written by Julian Mitchell in Forbes magazine this month, it forced us to take a look at all of what artist Ryan Leslie has been up to since he’s decided to become an independent artist. The synopsis of the research concludes that this guy is a genius. Taking the road less traveled for Ryan Leslie has seemed to work in his favor; leaving a major record label and foregoing popular social media platforms to develop his own platform is almost unheard of. While most people on social media rely on “Likes” and “Follows”, Ryan Leslie has built a new-age platform that focuses on traditional marketing values such as building direct relationships with his fans and creating experiences for his Super Fans.

The SuperPhone app developed by Leslie’s media company Disruptive Media is proof that in this age, independent artists have a tremendous amount of power. Simply by focusing on marketing through the SuperPhone application, Customer Relationship management, and a more advanced form of direct marketing, Leslie was able to earn $2 million from only 15,000 of his fans. Check out this video below.

Here are 11 Cool Takeaways:

1. Ryan Leslie believes that artists should be less worried about “Likes” and realize that “people that buy your stuff are the people you are supposed to care about.” Through the use of his SuperPhone App, Ryan says, “I respond to people just to say thank you”
2. With the SuperPhone app, fans provide the artists their phone number and the artist can contact you directly. Ryan Leslie can be contacted at this Superphone number 1-646-887-6978.
3. Ryan Leslie is a Harvard graduate, government major. This guy is smart! But his college degree is not what made him successful, it was his fearlessness in doing what many others are too scared to do.
4. While Most artists are looking to get signed to a record label, Leslie removed his music from iTunes and launched a company to reach fans in new ways. He’s made more money as an independent than he’s ever had before.
5. Ryan Leslie believes it is silly to keep spending money in order to convert the same fans over and over again, he says “I think the future of the music industry is if you spend dollars to convert people into fans, you shouldn’t have to spend dollars again to convert those same people when you have a new product. You should be able to reach those people directly and spend your money growing your audience and growing your business.”
6. Ryan Leslie stays true to honoring his Super Fan, in July 2015 Ryan Leslie invited 3 fans to fly private with him from Georgetown to NJ. It was their first time flying on a private jet.
7. Ryan Leslie’s marketing advice: “The number one way to monetize yourself as an artists is to give people something that is priceless.”
8. Ryan’s advice to independents: “when you’re an independent, you have to be competitive , otherwise people don’t want to follow what you’re doing.”
9. Leslie believes connecting with his fans is critical, in 2010 when he left the major label system in favor of being an independent, he began thanking every fan personally for their support, in 2014 he founded a company to help other artists find and thank their true fans; he named it Disruptive Multimedia. Today he keeps in touch with over 38,000 fans via his SuperPhone, a product of Disruptive multimedia.
10. He believes in taking the road less traveled, his final album MZRT is being released as a single per month for the rest of his career. “We are here to prove and to show you that if you want to make money in music, you don’t have to be signed to a record company, you can get money your own way,” says Leslie.
11. Ryan kept it real about record deals: “a label is in your pockets, robbing you of 80% of your revenue because they gave you an advance… or, they’re keeping you away from your
    fans, I don’t care about that. What I do care about is that me, my team, the artists that follow my plan, independent artists that want to be
    on this pathway – we getting money and we don’t care about what other people do.”