This will be the first in a series of posts looking at how bands and the teams that surround them help themselves by engaging with fans. It'll look at why they stand out for me, and hence why I have legitimately become a 'fan', as well as how they achieved it.
Discovering a new track or album that appeals enough, so that the listener goes further to learn about the artist or band is always an enjoyable experience. I get the same feeling now as I did growing up. Exploring other recordings by them, influences of theirs, perhaps going to see them live, and becoming part of their 'fan base' is often what 'we in the industry' strive to achieve on a daily basis for our clients.
So how do they do it?
Luckily there is no one answer to that, otherwise it would be an incredibly dull experience for the listener, and I'd be out of a job!
This post looks at why I became a fan of AM & Shawn Lee. It looks at what led me to listen to their album time and again, tweet about it, go see them live, and even invest in their new album via pledgemusic.com, which allows them to have access to my wider social network with automatic posts on my Facebook timeline and Twitter feed.
For the sake of full disclosure, I have to explain that the company I work for distributes the label they are signed to. So the cynical amongst you will think that this is just self promotion, or my music discovery process is marred by my exposure to our distributed albums. Well, I suppose they are fair points, but working as I do in music distribution, my exposure to new bands and albums is so vast that to find those that stand out must mean something else is at play, and it is this that I wanted to explore below.
How did it start?
The label they are signed to, ESL (eslmusic.com), are one of our key clients, so their various releases make it into my consciousness for business reasons, but as they release a fair few albums, EP's and singles I know I don't always identify with the releases personally, although it is fair to say they are one of my favourite labels now. But what made this album stick?
If you haven't heard 'Celestial Electric', you can here:
This is now one of my most listened to albums this year, so naturally I started to share my enthusiasm with friends and colleagues. It just so happened that one of my colleagues produces a podcast called flomotionradio.com and he had recently interviewed the boys. If you take a listen, they discuss what some of the tracks mean, how they compose together (AM being based in the US and Shawn Lee in the UK) and generally talk about what makes them tick. By this point, I consider myself more than a casual listener, and have crossed into the territory of being a Fan. So what do Fans do? They go in search of more information, music, upcoming gigs, etc and where better to start these days than on the internet.
How do they communicate with their fans?
Twitter (@amsounds - @iloveshawnlee)
Both AM and Shawn Lee make good use of their twitter accounts. They tweet the following types of things, and for me, this is where I tend to get my news about them from:
- Gig: Upcoming dates
- Gig: Updates from the tour (things that have, or are about to happen)
- Gig: Tour pictures (random things of interest from their travels, using twitpic and instagram instagr.am)
- Gig: Tour location (no foursquare [or similar], just "hey we're here in XYZ")
- Call to action: 'ReTweet' to get tickets/guest list to gigs
- Call to action: 'Fan Opinion' e.g. "Who shall we get to mix our next album?"
- Call to action: join the mailing list tumblr.com
- Call to action: Pledge to help us complete our next album
- Video: Youtube (official youtube.com & fan videos from gigs youtube.com)
- Audio: Free tracks via soundcloud.com or even the full album via Bandcamp (for a limited time)
- Audio: DJ Mixes via MixCloud mixcloud.com
- People: Thanks to; fan comments, professional reviewers (links to reviews), people involved in their tours/professional lives
What they don't post is "Buy my album".
Facebook (www.facebook.com/amandshawnlee)
To all intents and purposes they use Facebook as a place to hold a lot of the content they are tweeting about. So the posts are often the same, but due to the nature of what Facebook is compared to Twitter, assets like photos, Youtube videos, audio via SoundCloud can be embedded in the timeline, rather than being external links to the various sites and accounts they run.
They have made full use of the site by completing the 'About' section, making sure that if you want to contact them, or their professional network (press, booking agent, etc) then you can. Events are also listed via songkick.com, along with access to their YouTube archive (using involver.com).
They have a Bandpage app providing photo's, videos, posts and general information about their progress (aggregating in from other feeds).
Their Bandcamp site is also available as an app, but that I have covered below.
Tumblr (amandshawnlee.tumblr.com)
Whilst Facebook could be a place to hold the vast picture library, they often opt for this. They are also using it to blog on; posting tour dates, sharing recent experiences, and much of what is in their Twitter feed.
Pledge Music (pledgemusic.com/artists/amandshawnlee)
This is where they ask their fans for help and to get involved. If you're not familiar with this service, the following are a few things which you can ask your fans for:
- Pledge - this is simply making a contribution towards their next album, and in AM & Shawn Lee's case, it will mean you'll receive a copy, so at $20, it really means you are just pre-ordering it. However the version you get comes packed with extras including instrumental versions of every track, videos, images and exclusive updates. Most importantly though, you'll get a copy before anyone else.
- Pledge Plus - this list includes what you get in the above Pledge plus a variety of extras if you pledge extra money. The price range is from $25 to $8,000. Each item has an 'availability' next to it, which helps bring rarity into the equation. Things you can get your hands on are extra digital tracks, physical CD's, Vinyl, signed or otherwise, limited runs or test pressings. Personal items from the band or from the tour like the microphone used by AM, the tiger mask which features in many images of them online, a tambourine, etc. There are meet the band type purchases; like a listening party when the album is finished, or meet the band at the various shows. You can have a track named after you, or a name of your choice, that they will compose for you and release commercially. The Bucket List is where the big money is spent. This is a fan paying for the band to come and visit their home country, and comes with tickets for you and a limited number of friends.
Bandcamp (bandcamp.com)
Like Pledge Music, this is a place where you can learn more about the band, but centrally it is a place to get your hands on exclusive and limited edition stuff. You can buy; the current album, pre-order the (as yet) un-released album, printed photo albums, bundles of products including T-Shirts, Posters, Vinyl, CD's, meet-and-greets, etc.
Website (amsounds.com/am-shawn-lee/)
Throughout the various sites and services, there are links back to their main website. Like many band sites it contains key information about the band's activities like gig dates, links to places where you can buy their products (iTunes, Amazon [MP3's, CD's and Vinyl], Bandcamp), listen to tracks via soundcloud and watch videos from YouTube. There is a good amount of information about the band and their releases, press quotes, a blog, ways to make contact, join the mailing list, as well as social media links to 'Like', 'Tweet' and other 'Share' buttons.
All these sites feature similar colour schemes and imagery, which gives you confidence that you are on an official page.
Tour / Live
Holland, UK, France, USA, Canada - at the point of posting this, AM & Shawn Lee were on tour. They had played dates in various cities in each country. After each performance they made time for those who came to see them. This is critical. The people attending these shows often become the 'Opinion Leaders' in a band's social circle. They will feedback positive or negative experiences directly to the bands online social media presence, as well as to their personal wider networks, online and offline. To state the obvious, the chances are that if they tell their network how good a band is, it'll increase the fan base. By way of example, when I attended their show in London's Jazz Cafe in Camden, I checked in via Foursquare when I got there, which posted on my Facebook and Twitter, then after the show, AM asked me via Twitter what I thought, so I tweeted a picture I took from the show saying how much I enjoyed it, and even passed comment on their session drummer. Simple fan engagement.
Traditional Media
Hopefully it is obvious to all, that if a band can gain the interest of traditional media (Print Press, Radio and TV), then it can amplify its message. Whilst in each city, AM & Shawn Lee conduct local radio, print, online and TV interviews, in-store performances and generally do what they can to connect with the 'local' audience. Speaking from the point of view of someone who helps arrange retail marketing for them, this is paramount. Retailers online and offline ask the same question 'why is someone going to come to my store and buy this record?'. This is as true online as it always was, and of course still is, in offline bricks and mortar stores.
Summary
The vast array of sites and services they are updating on a regular basis, means they are doing a lot to make sure they are plugging into where their fans 'hang out' online. Luckily most of these services are linked and content which is hosted in a particular location is dynamically shared across all the platforms. Simply opening the accounts and linking them together is having a far greater impact, than always trying to push a fan to a place they don't naturally go. For me it is Twitter rather than Facebook, but of course this will be different for someone else. Whilst there are buy links throughout the various online profiles, there is no hard sell. I don't remember seeing one 'buy my album' post. The closest they get to that is their Pledge Music posts, but in my opinion that is really just inviting you to join them in their journey rather than plainly asking 'give me money'. The money given has a greater purpose. Their fan communication is genuine and humble. Whilst they post a lot, it is more 'give' from them, than a request for their fans to give to them. They have also not forgotten to get out and actually meet people face to face, and have understood that, for some people, online communication is really not that important to their lives, and they prefer to communicate via traditional means. All in all, I think they get it right.
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