Twitter Made This Guy a Star

Last week I looked at how professional athletes are increasingly using social media to connect with their fans in a new and intimate way. Shifting gears now to the popular music industry we’ll see a similar trend albeit, in this case, even more pervasive.

Pop stars are brands and by engaging with their fans they not only help build their fan base, they get feedback and opinions from those who buy their music. In doing so, fans feel like they are involved, enhancing their loyalty. As this dynamic develops, in some cases, this new relationship can elicit a magical collision of talent, that without the interconnectedness of social media, likely would never have happened.

Earlier this month, deadmau5 (pronounced “dead mouse”), a 4-time Grammy nominee, who’s songs get hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and who boasts nearly 1 million followers on Twitter, decided to share his creative process by live streaming audio and video to his fans as he created a new track. Over the weekend as the track developed, fans were entertained, watching him in his home studio, as they were treated to a variety of working samples, getting exclusive real-time access. Once the base track started to come together, deadmau5 tweeted that he was making good progress and needed to start working on the vocal track. Little did he know, one of his fans, Chris James, was ready to get to work. By piecing together some of the samples and overlaying lyrics Chris himself wrote, he crafted a working copy, which he then sent, via Twitter, to deadmau5.

Deadmau5

Thinking it was just one of many tweets he had been receiving that weekend during the livestream, deadmau5 gave it a mention and moved on. Soon though, prompted by several followers, he pulled it back up and listened to the track…Fans watched as deadmau5 sat, stunned…He loved it! He responded, “It really is actually really good. Done. Let’s make it a track dude…” He immediately went to work, connecting with Chris to continue work on the track. deadmau5 got his manager involved and they started talking about Chris writing a second verse for the track and even talked about the credits Chris would get when it was released. This all played out live, for fans to see. Who knows where he’ll go from here.

This trend gets a big thumbs up and a ‘Hot’ rating! With social media’s ability to bridge the gap between professional stars and their fans, it not only develops a more loyal relationship, it can also help find that ‘diamond in the rough’, who has the talent and just needs one shot.

* Portions adapted from Greg Kumparak’s blog (@Grg) at https://pandodaily.com/

This article was written by Jeff Howland – Online Marketing Strategist at Dream Local Digital. Jeff Howland is a Maine native, who has lived in the midcoast area on-and-off for over 12 years, living now in Camden with his wife and two young children. Since graduating from the University of Maine with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering Technology, he has held positions within the industrial sector, as a software engineer, and the financial and marketing sectors, in a broad range of technology management and client support roles. Currently, Jeff is on the Board of Directors at the Camden Conference, where he serves as chairman of the Technology Committee, and he is also on the Board of Directors at the Literacy Volunteers of Midcoast Maine, where he serves as Treasurer. Growing with the Internet over the last two decades, Jeff’s innate interest in its technical facets, combined with the socio-cultural dimensions the Web now permeates, have opened a path to his true passion, helping people. With a logical and scientific approach, balanced by a creative, aesthetic feel, and keen insight into what works, Jeff works closely with our clients and team to develop and implement online marketing strategies. In his free time he enjoys reading, writing, and running. Please contact Jeff at [email protected] and for more information about Jeff, go online to: www.facebook.com/jeffhowlandME