Food for thought: The spy who sold out
Forgiving a pretty face
Facebook to agencies: how will people share your story?
Is “The Pitch” an accurate reflection of our industry?
Amid the music industry’s seemingly endless downward economic spiral, at least one rock band is embracing the new media landscape.
In an effort to promote their new greatest hits album, the Foo Fighters last Friday played a free concert for anyone who became a fan on their Facebook page. They played a two-and-a-half hour concert in their recording studio, taking requests and chatting with people in a live stream from Facebook. More than 20,000 people virtually attended the event.
The clever thing about the live chat was that everything their fans said to the band also got posted to their Facebook newsfeeds with a note that said they were watching the show, and encouraging their friends to become fans so they could watch too.
This promo was a win both by pushing the release of their new album and increasing their number of active fans.
Will the Foo Fighter’s Facebook promo boost album sales? Only time will tell. But at the very least, they’ve demonstrated that they’re at the cutting edge of social media brand best practices: They’ve created value (the free concert and intimate interaction), and they’ve provided it to their consumers via a credible opt-in (becoming a Facebook fan).
The Foo Fighters aren’t alone. A couple of weeks ago U2 performed a live concert in partnership with YouTube. More than 10 million people tuned in to see the show.
To get an exclusive viewing of the new Weezer music video, you have to tweet about it.
And then there was Radiohead’s pioneering efforts for the In Rainbows album: they streamed a live concert from their website on New Years Eve 2008.
With 95% of music being downloaded illegally, music makers and sellers are having to find more innovative ways to get fans out to buy their records and go to their shows. It’s becoming clear that those who create value and engage in real conversations are going to pull ahead.
Or, they could always do what artist Josh Freese did and sell their albums online for an outrageous prices and hope just a few people bite.
Andy
November 5, 2009 @ 2:43 pm
Also, take a look at what Public Enemy are doing,
http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=60453
Even IF they make it to $250 000, will they sell $250 000 worth of cds?
Does having fans involved in the recording process = more cd sales?
Do people still care about Flava Flav?
My guess is no…
Dave
November 6, 2009 @ 12:50 pm
Amazing how much innovation comes from a sector that’s (seemingly) so under siege from a viability perspective. Perhaps the newspaper giants should start a band!
I’m curious. How exactly does the the Weezer/Twitter thing work? Sounds like a awesome transaction to learn from.