High profile artists in the music business are finding new ways to interact with their fans – giving them a sense of being closer to their idol(s). No longer are the days when fans think their idols are so far away and so out of reach. The Internet has brought about a new way to create, sustain and build a fan base.
The past few days I have been looking at how musical artists and bands interact with their fans online and I am seeing a high proportion adapting Web 2.0 technologies in what I have named Entertainment Online Interaction (EOI).
A site that constitutes as being EOI is one that does any of the following: uses RSS, has a blog, uses video and audio for personal message, has some sort of tagging feature, a moblogging feature or a wap site.
Still it seems there is still a lack of understanding of what Web 2.0 technologies can actually achieve and you get the feeling they’re introducing them only because they’re ‘cool’. For example, some sites claim to have a blog, but in truth it’s just a news feature – no RSS, comments or trackbacks – a very one way process. Never the less, some sites fair-up better than others.
Here, I’ll give you a list of the artists I found from searching the UK and US top 40 music charts using (or partially using) EOI.
Mariah Carey
offers RSS for news.
INXS
offers RSS for news.
Green Day
offers RSS for news.
Charlotte Church
offers RSS for news and a WAP site.
Westlife
offer RSS for news and have personal video clips for fans.
Sugababes.
offer RSS for news
Simon Webbe
offers RSS for news and blog without RSS.
Daniel Beddingfield
uses audio and video to give fans a personal message.
P Diddy
has a blog – well calls it a blog but it isn’t – no RSS or comments. Has ‘Diddy TV’ for live messages and videos.
The Pussycat Dolls
has a blog with comments but no RSS.
Limp Bizkit
has a blog with comments but no RSS
Weezer
has a blog with comments but no RSS
Ozzy Osbourne
offers a number of feeds for different news
Other artists that are using Web 2.0 technologies with a little more imagination are:
Maximo Park
has a moblog where fans send in their own pictures of the band. RSS syndicated.
Black Eyed Peas
made video diaries of their European tour using their 3G mobile phones.
Madonna
offers RSS for news and uses personal audio messages from the Madonna. Also has a photo tagging feature where fans can send in photos of woman herself and tag them.
From the undiscovered to the super stars, all music artists should consider using Web 2.0 technologies as a part of their communication strategy and EOI. These new technologies can be used as a personal and direct method of talking to fans, and after all, the fans are the ones who pay money to see them perform, buy their music and shell-out for other merchandise.
It will be interesting to see if other artists in 2006 adapt these technologies and how far they will go with them. They could offer podcasts of live performances, video blogs when they’re on tour or a blog (RSS enabled with comments and trackbacks) to get general feedback from fans. No doubt there will be other creative ideas for interaction.
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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David Harper
Think about this Stephen…
Using RSS feeds to glue togther branded content with audience-generated content and distributing same to a mobile community space where additional communications channels such as forums, chats and polls can be activated to engage the audience.
Warner Launches Mobile Portal For The Veronicas – Mash-Up Of Branded Content With Social Media
http://winksite.com/site/help_bl_view.cfm?blog_id=5690
David Harper
http://winksite.com/site/help_bl_view.cfm?blog_id=5690
David Harper
the URL is not translating correctly. after help it’s underscore then bl underscore view.cfm?blog_id=5690
my apologies.
Stephen
Got it David. Just checking it out now!
Abby
Looks nice