Hey, check out who is new to the FanMail family: Steel Train.
Steel Train, after spending most of the year recording a new c.d., is on tour with Hanson, hellogoodbye and Sherwood. (Remember those cute boys who were all mmmBOP-y. Well, they are all grown up indie rockers now.)
For a free mp3 from the un-released album, sign up for their email list. They are definitely worth checking out!
You can also see them live, which we highly recommend, in these cities.
Well folks, things have been busy. I don’t mean just normal busy, but really busy. The winds of change are in effect and everywhere pundits and experts and music geeks are shouting, “but you’ve got to have a relationship with your fans!” and “email works!, social networking works!, Communicate, communicate, build a fanbase” We are seeing first hand the success and revenue which properly executed direct to fan initiatives can drive. As our friend Ian recently said, ” The business is changing, artists have choice, and artists will find partners to help them get done what they need to.”
To that end we are thrilled to welcome new clients like DJ Shadow (yeah, I’m a huge fan), Beck, Cucu Diamantes, Sugar Ray and Bad Lieutenant and who have all launched new fan marketing campaigns to connect more closely with core fans.
One of the most exciting new clients in the mix is Them Crooked Vultures – a super group made up Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. The mystery around this group is only starting to become clear, so join their list to get the scoop.
Outside of the music space we are thrilled to present our new client Coach Pete Carroll. On top of being the well known coach for the USC Trojans, he is a inspired author, speaker, leader and mentor. His “Win Forever” philosophy has not only led the USC football team to win the last 74 of 83 games but is now the topic for an upcoming book, DVD and educational track. We are thrilled to be working with such a leader.
We have also been busy playing with new features which are helping our clients acquire, retain and grow their fan bases. SocialForward is a new feature which encourages your fans to pass on content from your emails.
This really is the coolest thing since sliced bread since it vastly expands the ability of your content to be viral as well as your ability to track the reach of a message. Early indications are showing 80 times the pass around which normally happens from traditional Forward to a Friend. All the major social networks are supported and full tracking is available.
We also have a new user community, which looks to expand the knowledge and support which all clients have through 3sixty.
Highlights from our new community include:
Home page: Topics of recent interest (for example : how to add web-collection forms to facebook). You can also find announcements, new feature highlights & navigation for the entire support desk
Knowledge Base: Segmented support topics on an array of topics. From the ‘Getting Started’ page to help jump start your new account to ‘Additional Software Tools’, the FanMail Knowledge Base is the place to find information, documentation, videos and much more on a vast array of topic
Submit a problem or issue: Using the ‘Submit a request’ tab, you can create a ticket and a direct line of communication with our account management team. Your ticket will be noted and work will begin immediately to answer your question.
Track your support requests: You can log into the Knowledge Base to track the results of your submitted ticket. Here you will see updates and notifications made by our account management team.
The Capture Package can help you:
• Grow your list of mobile subscribers through Text Capture
• Engage mobile subscribers through Voting and Keyword Response
• Increase subscriber conversion from offline to online
Early indicators are showing that when this is executed correctly Text Collect can be one of the fastest list growth mechanisms out there. We we be excited to post some real case studies and results over the next few weeks.
We are pleased to announce our newest client Road Runner Records. One of the largest truly independent record labels. Initially specializing in heavy metal, Roadrunner now includes a wide spectrum of genres and artists including Nickelback, Slipknot, Opeth, Sammy Hagar and dozens more. Check out their full roster here. The interactive team at Road Runner is super progressive and forward thinking about fan relationship management and we are just thrilled to be able to work with them on pushing the needle. For a little fun, spend some time with Slipknot:
The Dandy Warhols’ home studio in Portland, OR, The Odditorium is the setting of one of the coolest music projects in recent memory: Breathe Easy. They take collaboration, art, and advocacy to entirely new levels. Our good friends, The Dandys, are creating something truly innovative and genre defying: A musical conversation being held by different artists at different times for the same track. One artist will go into the studio and lay down a track on a song or two, then later another artist will go in and add a track based on what they heard. This way the tracks grow organically and are not limited to any one artist’s vision. The folks involved are what make this project so ground-breaking. Artists from all walks of musical life are adding their influence. Saul Williams, The Raveonettes, Black Angels, The Bravery, and Spindrift, are just a few of the artists that have gotten on board so far. The tracks they are creating will start being posted on Oct. 21, and all proceeds will go to the Three Rivers Land Conservancy, a group dedicated to protecting wild areas from errant urbanization and sprawl. The Dandys, Three Rivers, and FanMail all agree that living well and building strong communities requires protecting our natural greenspaces. Check out their MySpace and download the tracks.
FanMail and long-time clients and friends, HeadCount, teamed up for a voter-registration drive at the beginning of October. With the deadline to register for the upcoming election as early as October 5 in some states, time was of the essence.
As we all know, democracy only works if we all exercise our right to vote. HeadCount approached us with the idea of allowing FanMail’s clients to send a free mailer to their subscribers encouraging them to register and vote. This proved amazingly successful. Over the course of just a couple of days, FanMail and it’s clients sent almost a half of a million registration reminders and successfully registered thousands of previously unregistered voters. Thank you to all of our amazing clients, such as Another Planet Entertainment, Outside Lands Festival, Gathering of the Vibes, SCI Fidelity Records, and Umphrey’s McGee, who participated in this event, and if you haven’t done so, please register to vote. The deadline has not passed in many states yet, but time is running out. Please go to www.headcount.org to register and see a list of each state’s requirements and deadlines.
1230 Records, the record company of FanMail clients, Sound Tribe Sector 9, is proud to present the latest from renowned rap-artist, Count Bass D. To get the word out, 1230 Records has released an e-card that allows recipients to preview the album, L7, and utilizes FanMail’s powerful Forward-to-a-Friend (FTAF) utility. The results have been astounding, with on-line sales taking off and the Count quickly building a huge internet buzz that is matched in intensity only by his beats. With such obvious and easy success, it has to make you wonder: Why isn’t every act doing this? Kudos to 1230 Records and Count Bass D for knowing what the fans want and not being afraid to give it to them.
Our newest client, RockSTAR Music Corp., has a very exciting artist coming out with a new album this month. Her self-titled release, Elise Estrada, goes on sale today. Check it out at her myspace page. She has been featured recently with the likes of 50 Cent, Janet Jackson & The Backstreet Boys. We are very pleased to be working with RockSTAR Music Corp. and wish Elise all the luck in the world on her new release. You should buy it, the album does not disappoint.
San Francisco and Outside Lands… The Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco is wrapping up and it was an awesome event! Great music and lots of fan interaction opportunities have made Outside Lands more desirable in scope compared to traditional festivals. Check out Crowd Fire. The “greening” throughout the event has also impressed me. It shows an organization’s ability to hold an event drawing many thousands and stay environmentally conscious at the same time. Kudos to our clients Another Planet and Superfly. Thanks for the memories…
