Mimi Webb has been making a chart impact in 2023 with Red Flags (RCA), which has spent most of the year so far in the Top 20. It finished Q1 at No.30 overall.
It follows the UK breakthrough star’s 2022 single House On Fire, which peaked at No.6 and spent 14 weeks inside the Top 20. House On Fire has chart sales of 613,243, while Red Flags is on 217,234 so far.
When it comes to global streaming consumption, Mimi Webb has reached a landmark moment in her career. The Epic Records/Sony Music UK artist, who’s managed by Rob Ronaldson of Robots + Humans and Brandon Goodman of Best Friends Music, has now reached a billion streams in just two years. She has 7,663,101 monthly listeners on Spotify.
The billion streams result comes just weeks after the release of her debut album, Amelia, which peaked at No.4 in the UK and has sales to date of 19,479.
Webb’s biggest streaming hit globally is 2021’s Top 10 hit Good Without, which is on 186,446,839 Spotify streams. Alongside House On Fire, it is her second UK platinum-certified single (772,283 sales).
Webb, a former Music Week cover star, was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2023 BRIT Awards.
She wraps her European and sold-out UK tour on Monday (April 24) with a date at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith. User-generated content from the shows has gone viral on TikTok. She returns to the stage in the summer including appearances at Parklife and Lollapalooza Paris.
Here, manager Rob Ronaldson, president of Robots + Humans, shares key insights on the rise of Mimi Webb as the UK star establishes herself as an album artist…
How did you achieve this one billion streaming accumulation for Mimi Webb - what has been key in terms of marketing, promotion and platforms?
“It's been fantastic to see her growth over the last 18 months crescendo into her debut album. The first thing that struck me was her voice, and everything since has been in service of that. Throughout, it’s been making sure that every decision has leaned into her talent. We built an incredible base on the A&R side, taking the time for her to craft her songwriting, and helping guide her to make sure that her vocal talent has been front and centre. With that as a starting point, we’ve been able to construct smart campaigns around the music.
“The combination of her captivating voice and infectious personality have meant that keeping those two things front and centre in all the content and marketing has been crucial. Being consistent in both great music and engaging content has meant that we’ve been able to build an artist, rather than just working individual records.”
As well as the UK are there international hot spots for Mimi - how is she building from breakthrough star to UK export success?
“We're seeing new milestones hit in lots of different places across lots of different songs. Red Flags peaked Top 25 at Top 40 radio in the US, which was a first for her. She's had gold and platinum records in key European markets and Australia across different records. And on a song level, the ex-UK splits can vary from 25% UK to 60% UK depending on the record.
“On the touring side, she's selling real tickets in Europe and Australia. She played to a sold-out Melkweg in Amsterdam last week which is 1,400 tickets. We're currently exploring other touring opportunities in the US too."
Mimi Webb is often considered a TikTok artist - can you go into any recent viral campaigns on the platform?
“I think this is a common misconception about Mimi. It's clear that TikTok has been instrumental in her discovery and explosive growth early on, but we use it as a platform to reach and grow her fanbase. She has never really had a song driven by a big trend, more so the way fans interact and engage with her own content driven by her music as well as her personality.
“The growth in consumption post-EP [2021’s Top 10 Seven Shades Of Heartbreak] has been driven by content across all her social channels and, coupled with broader awareness, this now serves as a powerful tool to launch her records. We've really taken the time to work on all areas of her artist development, so now multiple different avenues can serve as a driver for her.”
Have you experimented with emerging platforms such as Discord or other social platforms?
“We look at every platform individually, and as whole to her entire career. We take the view that anywhere where Mimi's fanbase or anyone who could become a fan is living, is a place where we want to be engaging. Anything from her speaking direct with her diehard fans on Discord, to making a custom 'Amelia' Twitter emoji is considered a win to us and a step forward so we're always keen to look at all options.”
She's so confident as a writer that we always want to keep releasing new material
Rob Ronaldson
How is the UK tour helping to increase streaming consumption - what kind of activity are you doing around the shows to maintain momentum for the album?
“She's such a compelling vocalist live, so we've found historically that her performances often get clipped and make their way onto the internet. Beyond UGC, we’ve had awesome promo as she made her way through the UK. In Europe she did a TV performance in Sweden as well as radio performances and press.”
What are the ambitions for Red Flags and achieving a new chart peak for Mimi Webb?
“It seems odd to say given her chart performance over the last 18 months, but it's something we haven't consciously focused on. She's never done any remixes on songs to help compound chart growth, and we've never done signed single CDs to gain a few extra places. She's never done a feature either. It's something we all wanted to avoid ahead of her releasing an album, so her fans could really buy into her music and get to know her as an artist. She's so confident as a writer that we always want to keep releasing new material and not make things about any given song, although we all love a chart hit!”
How has the album performed in terms of consumption of the body of work? And how is this helping to inform singles choices?
“It's been fantastic and was the No.1 streaming debut in the UK [week of release]. To date her album has already banked over 200m streams globally and is building every day. We're seeing really awesome data across a few different songs and have some amazing things planned, we're just in the process of finalising, so more to come!”
What are the further global ambitions, especially following the recent US TV performances?
“Mimi is signed out of the US to Epic Records and the team has been brilliant in securing some amazing TV looks for her, as well as everything else in between. We can really feel the growth and momentum building over there and have some really exciting things to come but I'll let Mimi announce those first, as always!”
Subscribers can read our Mimi Webb cover feature from 2022.
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