Why everyone wishes they could CRANK DAT

After being reminded about Soulja Boy by a comment left by a reader...



"Who's Soulja Boy, and what in the heck is that dance?"

If you haven’t heard of Soulja Boy or the Crank Dat/Crank That song and dance, you’re missing out on what is one of the most successful cases of harnessing online user participation. Hate him or love him, or plain don’t care, with a massive following and a record 3 million downloads of the smash hit, “Crank Dat", Soulja Boy at only 17 years of age has experienced a level of success to be envied by any modern day musician.

How in the heck he achieve this?

Online Promotion:“You Look Better On MySpace”
Unlike other popular artists, Soulja Boy first self -promoted via the internet rather than through agents and the traditional music industry process. Unlike other popular artists he also had an established fan base before even signing to a label( Interscope Records). From humble beginnings, he was eventually able to access technology to enable him to produce his songs, promote and distribute his music through the internet. In the early days, he uploaded his songs to SoundClick,then created his own website, before uploading his songs and videos to YouTube where he has his own channel and the social networking site MySpace, where his profile has over 42,218,889 views.

Hustling 2.0: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T M-Y H-U-S-T-L-E”
One technique used by Soulja Boy to help him reach the masses was what has been labelled by Reynolds (2007) as “Hustling 2.0”. Basically, Soulja Boy would rename his songs as the number 1 song at the time and other popular tracks so that when people downloaded the “song” it would actually be a Soulja Boy track (Reynolds,2007). This can be very annoying for a downloader after a specific song, but judging from Soulja Boy’s popularity maybe listeners were not all that frustrated with receiving a random song.

Convergence: "Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it, Drag and drop it, zip - unzip it"
Convergence is “where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways” (Jenkins, 2006).

In regards to technology convergence, rather than just seeking traditional methods of exposure such as airplay on radio and TV, Soulja Boy has used social networking sites, video sites, mobile phones, user created content and physical spreading and sharing of the Crank Dat dance to promote himself and his music. One of the themes used in the “Crank Dat” video clip is actually technological convergence, for the clip depicts the various ways his song has been listened to, viewed and shared.

User Participation:"Clap your hands everybody.And everybody just clap your hands"
Instead of trying in vain like other artists(eg. Prince) to control the use of their music online, Soulja Boy gives users the freedom to use his music . In a nutshell, a key to Soulja Boy’s success is “ his active encouragement of fans to sample, remix, mashup, and perform his "Crank Dat" song through whatever media channels they want” (Jenkins, 2007)He encourages users to create videos using his music, uploads fan videos to his own website and even posted an instructional video for the “Crank Dat” dance to encourage people to learn the steps. The “Crank Dat” dance has been hailed as the “modern day” and “hip hop” Macarena, and the official video clip and instructional video have been hugely popular, as have many of the user created videos of the dance.

Xiaochang (2006) points out, this story is not just a matter of grassroots distribution in a web 2.0 environment, for the content has been changed and tweaked and made appropriate by a variety of groups. While Soulja Boy may have been the artist and performer – the “origin” of the song, he is no longer the centre, as it has become more about the participating community that has formed around the song.( Xiaochang, 2006). Rather than just passively watch the video and listen to the song, users are performing, filming and uploading their own versions. Some of those who have cranked it online include Beyonce, young ballerinas, Winnie the Pooh and professional footballers . This huge amount of user participation involving the song can be attributed as a main reason behind the song’s popularity, for as Xiaochang (2006) provides that people weren’t just commenting on “Crank Dat”, but were responding in a very immediate, productive and creative way.

Jenkins (2006) points out the distribution of media content across various media systems, competing media economies and geographical locations is heavily dependent on the active participation of consumers. Soulja Boy has recognized the worth of user created content, encouraged users to use and interpret his music and dance in any way they like, and continues to promoted his music through avenues (eg. Using MySpace and YouTube) that others too have used, but failed to use effectively. Whether you think the song is the best thing since the invention of Aussie Rules, or think Soulja Boy is another unwanted gangster wannabe, Soulja Boy has become a prime example of an artist who has risen to success (even if it turns out to be short lived) through convergence and harnessing produsage and user participation.

Jenkins, H. (2007). Hustling 2.0:Soulja boy and the Crank Dat phenomenon. Retrieved May 11, 2008, from http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/10/hustling_20_soulja_boy_and_the.html

Jenkins, H. (2006). Introduction: “Worship at the altar of convergence”. In Jenkins,H. Convergence culture:When new and old media collide. (pp.1-24). New York:New York University

Reynolds, C. (2007, October 03). The rise of Soulja Boy Tellem. Artistdirect. Retrieved May 11, 2008 from http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/news/article/0,,4434940,00.html

Xiaochang, L. (2006, November 06). [Interview with Nora Young, host of Spark radio, podcast and blog]. Xiaochang Li on Web 2.0 and the success of Soulja Boy. Retrieved from Radio One CBC on May 12, 2008 from http://www.cbc.ca/spark/blog/2007/11/xiaochang_li_on_web_20_and_the.html