Beyoncé 101: How to use fame, influence and hardwork to sell your music

Don’t complain, you have the same 24 hours that Beyoncé has…’

On December 13, 2013 Beyoncé Knowles Carter released her fifth studio album, the self-titled project ‘Beyoncé‘ under her Parkwood Entertainment label and Columbia Records.

The album did come as a surprise to her fans and music critics all around the world because there was no prior announcement, build up or hype. Bey just dropped the record on iTunes, sending her ‘supposed rivals’ into shock!

Record label executives and AnRs would consider the move as career suicide if any other artiste attempted the stunt so why did it work for Queen Bey? Why did her #NewRules – a simple adaptation (but slight deviation) of Jay Z‘s brilliant album marketing idea earlier in the year – work so perfectly?

Bey dropped a 14-track album accompanied with 17 videos, her first visual album selling exactly 828,773 copies in three days. The album which debuted on iTunes could only be purchased as a whole unit (no individual track buys).

When you compare that record to the other Pop acts albums’ first week sales this year (Katy Perry’s Prism sold 286,000 copies, Lady Gaga’s much anticipated ARTPOP moved 258,000 units and twerk-crazed Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz sold 270,000). Putting into consideration the sort of heavy promotion these other ladies put into their album projects, Beyoncé’s feat is nothing but amazing.

The power Beyoncé wields in those slick hands of hers is fueled by fame, influence and hard work making her the poster child for the 21st century’s feminist, you know, that whole #GirlPower stuff. After temporarily suspending her music career for over a year to give birth to her daughter Blue Ivy, she bounced back this year with her electrifying ‘The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour‘. That’s a sign of strength right there…

Beyonce is the next thing to any female’s dream of being perfect. Ironically, she says the message behind her latest album is finding the beauty in imperfection.

Ardent Beyoncé fans on social media are collectively known as the BeyHive (originally known as the Beyontourage) and are very very passionate about their role model (they have quite a number of Nigerian stans too). You could tell with the new album; is the music all that? NO. It’s just Beyoncé being honest and that’s what counts.

Now some would argue that Rihanna pulls just as many fans with RihannaNavy, Lady Gaga with her Little Monsters, Katy Perry with her KatyCats, and even Britney Spears with her Britney Army. But tell us, which one of these other ladies is married to arguably the greatest Hip-Hop artiste ever?