First on SoundCloud
Lil Tecca
Fall 2019
SoundCloud is a platform that allows artists to own their careers, and First on SoundCloud is a campaign that celebrates the DIY ethos of the brand’s creator community.
From first play to first platinum, 17 year old Lil Tecca went from rapping on the weekends to topping the charts, all before getting his drivers license.
Every artist’s journey begins somewhere, and this Fall SoundCloud will celebrate these artist stories through First on SoundCloud, a brand campaign that captures authentic moments of creation, collaboration, and community of creators who got their start on SoundCloud.
New York native, Lil Tecca, got an unconventional start in music. In middle school, he began making diss tracks about an Xbox friend. These tracks eventually found their way onto SoundCloud. By high school he’d sharpened his craft and was rapidly building a fanbase among his peers at school and on the internet.
“Most of my drops is based off what the fans want. You gotta put yourself in front of people. You can’t just post on SoundCloud and think it’s going to go up”
Lil Tecca, who just turned 17, is now the reigning king of viral rap, with the longest-running number-one single in SoundCloud history. Despite his meteoric rise to fame, he continues to evolve his sound and find his voice with each new release.
“Back then I didn’t have all the knowledge to create the type of music that I am creating now, but the music I am creating now is the vision I had back then”
As Lil Tecca continues his ascent, there’s no telling how far he can take it.
Listen to Lil Tecca
Creative Director: Reed Van Nort
Design: Reed Van Nort, Devin, Hobdy, Andrew Joseph
Photo: Jimmy Fontaine
Video: Razor Soft
At its core, First on SoundCloud is a campaign centered around discovery, elevation, and celebration of creativity and artistic expression.
In order to capture the truest representation of an artist's creative process and journey, we took a verité approach, embedding a skeleton production crew in the inner circle of the featured creators for a day.
Capturing the authentic moments of collaboration and community of creators and their crews is critical in positioning SoundCloud as the premier destination of artists to connect, create, and grow their careers.
Visually, the creative is raw and intimate. SoundCloud celebrates imperfection in an artist's creative journey, therefore the visual identity of this campaign is not clean, static, or sterile.
Ensuring the creative is accessible and flexible is central to the overall look and feel. SoundCloud users are always in motion and the imagery is a reflection of the bold and energetic spirit of the brand’s diverse community.
All these elements come together as a collage of video, photo, text, and handwriting, mixing the digital and physical to create something that is meant to feel grounded and authentic.
