Rapper releases only one digital copy of his single, urges listeners to “pass it on”

When a musician releases a new single on Spotify or iTunes, they’re hoping that they can market the heck out of it to sell as many copies as possible and make a name for themselves.

One Swedish rapper named Adam Tensta has decided to wrap up his new single’s release with a marketing campaign which only lets one person listen to his track at a time. That’s right, there’s only one “copy” in existence of his new single “Pass It On”.

The release of this single is powered by a Facebook app that requires you to install it:

Once you’ve installed the Facebook app, which only asks for permission to send you emails, you can listen to the song if it’s “available”, meaning nobody else is listening to it at that time. If someone else is listening, you can sign up to wait in line and will get a message when it’s your turn:

In a brilliant bit of marketing, you’ll only have one hour to listen to the song when it’s in your “possession”. Not only does this approach build a demand to hear the song, but it’s extremely reminiscent of past days when you would pass around a mixtape with your friends. Unless you were all sitting at the same boombox, you couldn’t all listen at the same time. In fact, I remember days of sharing headphones on a Walkman to listen to the hottest new song. Needless to say, this campaign brings those memories back for me and I like it.

By limiting the song’s release, Adam Tensta certainly won’t hit the billboard charts in a hurry, but he’s keeping his fans and curious onlookers on their toes by literally releasing one digital copy of his new single. Pretty genius if you ask me.

Adam Tensta’s new single “Pass It On”