Travis Scott Draws Kanye West & 60,000 Fans to ‘Utopia’ Live Premiere in Rome On a global consumption level, it’s safe to say it actually far surpassed ASTROWORLD. UTOPIA‘s first-week global streaming numbers actually almost doubled ASTROWORLD, Billboard just quantifies merch bundles differently now than in 2018. ASTROWORLD was such a seminal moment in culture, we wanted to level up that energy and recapture the feeling of event albums, which are clearly lacking in music lately. While the numbers are powerful and have important historical context, our focus is always primarily on the music and world-building. After five years, how did you work to set up this release to the point that it nearly equaled his last? This is his first album since 2018’s Astroworld, which also posted around 500,000 units in its first week. We are all super proud of the final product and it was amazing to see the world’s reaction. Producing his film CIRCUS MAXIMUS on an insanely tight timeline, shooting in exotic locations around the world and premiering the album within a film in theaters nationwide was a massive undertaking but definitely set up the project in a unique way. For this project, Travis really wanted to lean into building a strong visual language. I also handle everything on the business end. Cactus Jack is essentially an independent label and polymath-driven creative agency - we oversee everything from marketing strategy to design and execution. Our small core team has been together since the start of Travis’ career. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?

1 on the Billboard 200 with 496,000 units, the third-biggest debut week of any album this year and by far the biggest for any hip-hop album. This week, Travis Scott’s Utopia debuted at No. I feel record-breaking artists who are able to move merchandise at an elite level should be celebrated at a time when branding, creativity and marketing generally nonexistent in the music industry.” “But strangely in music, it’s now considered a negative towards overall consumption and metrics behind a project. “A24 releases merch for their big movies, Disney and Marvel create massive product lines around their blockbusters, fans line up for jerseys and official merch at every sporting event,” he says. Here, Stromberg talks about the huge first week for Utopia, the challenges in pulling off that show at the Circus Maximus and why artists should be celebrated for their approach to merchandising and sales. Travis Scott Announces Utopia - Circus Maximus Tour: See Dates

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