Consider this scenario: You’re band and all you want to do is make great music. No interest in ever playing live. No interest in trying to please a record label. And no interest in actually pressing physical CDs. Oh, and did I mention that there is no marketing budget and all you want to do is give this music away for free?
That’s exactly the scenario that was brought to me by my friend Jeremy Bentley as he was getting ready to release an album from his new band, The French Revolution. All he and his rotating group of bandmates wanted to do was make good music, without any constraints.
So rather than just put it out there and say, “Here’s a free downloadable album,” we decided to have a little fun and experiment with social media. The idea was to create a Twitter account and Facebook page for The French Revolution, without really saying what it was. For two weeks, Jeremy sent out teasers on both, trying to build up a little bit of buzz. We really didn’t spend a lot of time on this, but we did get people talking. Some were even a bit hostile, decrying the gimmicky nature of the tactic.
Overall, the goal was to generate enough interest to get people talking. Get retweets on Twitter, and have people carry that discussion over to the Facebook page. But all of us have families and jobs, so we couldn’t really put too much time and energy behind the campaign. And the results during the two weeks leading up to the release were rather modest.
While I was never specifically identified with the marketing campaign, a number of people approached me to ask me about it. Some assumed it was me performing some sort of strange social media experiment (with no payoff at the end). Thankfully, I could honestly tell them that I wasn’t the person behind the campaign, because I merely came up with some of the ideas and Jeremy did the rest. (I’ll also point out that while I helped the band out, they are not a paying client. I offered my advice and services just as a friend, and out of curiosity to see what would happen.)
During this campaign the band was able to build up a small level of buzz, mostly local, as people anticipated the arrival of October 13th. On that day, Jeremy provided a link to a full download of the album, complete with artwork.
While only a few hundred people came on board during the two-week viral period, it was interesting to see the way people interacted. I now know that if we had really taken the time to put a fully-integrated online and social media campaign in place, perhaps including a YouTube element, we could have done much more.
During the first 13 hours or so that the album was available, the band logged 137 downloads. (With an additional 40 overnight, the total stands at 177 at the time of this writing). Not too shabby for what we were trying to do, and probably better results than if the album had just been released without the two-week pre-campaign. Plus…it was a lot of fun.
Social media is the perfect platform for generating buzz, particularly around entertainment related properties. Most recently this can be seen in the opening success of the film Paranormal Activity. Bands, films, and television shows can truly benefit from some viral social media buzz.
Oh, and by the way, we’re not done. This is just the start. We’d love your help in keeping the experiment going. It’s no longer a stealth tease campaign, but we’d love to continue to let people know about this great album.
Here are some key links to ways you can first of all download the music, and then help us spread the word. Let’s see if we can get people listening to The French Revolution all over the place.
Free download of The French Revolution
The French Revolution on Facebook
The French Revolution on Twitter
The French Revolution on Gimmesound – downloads, lyrics, and song info
The French Revolution on Myspace
So check them out. This is a great album. I think you’ll enjoy it. And have fun helping spread the word.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m glad it worked so well, and now I’m officially inspired. I am slowly chipping away at an album (you’ll never guess who is recording and playing drums on it!) too and have been undecided about what to do with it when I’m done, since I too have set aside any delusions of grandeur in a totally compromised music business. So, there we have it. I may try to rip off the idea to get my music to the people…even though I admittedly have a love/hate relationship with social networking. (i have yet to even visit Twitter.com. seriously).
Thanks for the comment, Keith. Love your music as well, and perhaps we should talk. Obviously the same sort of thing won’t work, but social media is a great way to spread the word…and it’s free, depending on how you decide to use it. So let’s talk!