Situation:
Two college buddies, both big music fans, decide to collaborate on one last music project before they become working stiffs. Both were graduating seniors with corporate job offers waiting for them. For RJ Ferguson and Steven “Hoodie Allen” Markowitz, what came next was completely unexpected.
Action:
They ended up releasing their song free online; it was titled “You are not a robot”. They targeted music bloggers who were active on The Hype Machine (www.hypem.com). This was a collection of music bloggers that aggregated mp3s via blog posts. Users were then able to rate the tracks based on a top 100 type format. “You are not a robot” made a meteoric rise to number one. They received 60,000 listens over night, trackable since the song was being hosted in the SoundCloud.
Since they had seen such great success, they decided to continue at it in their spare time. They went to work at their corporate gigs but collaborated on a full length mix tape titled “Pep Rally” on evenings and weekends. Some of the actions they took:
- Built a web page with one click access to download the music. They utilized their own independent server to ensure that massive amounts of site traffic would not crash the web page (including bandwidth to allow for faster downloads of songs). Included prominent social media links to ensure ease of sharing.
- Identified bloggers with a large social influence and sent them each a personalized email with some info on the project and directed them to the newly built web page
- Developed a Hoodie Allen Facebook account (not a fan page). Utilized socialmention.com to listen and then Hoodie engaged with those that showed interest in the music materials now circling the web. Usually in the form of a hello, friend request, or thank you.
- Interacted with their fans and followers. By responding to as many posts and tweets, they were able to connect on a personal level with fans.
Result:
In the following months, Pep Rally was downloaded in excess of 500,000 times. Hoodie Allen was offered (and accepted) a contract with the Morris Agency to be his booking agent. He now shares the same booking agent as Kanye West. They recently released “Leap Year” as their second independent album, utilizing a similar approach to “Pep Rally” but have included video content on YouTube as a way to augment the impact. As well as emailing tracks out to influential vloggers.
Hoodie Allen now performs upwards of 15 times a month, selling out at venues across the country. The corporate day job? History.
Key Learnings
- Peers are 10x more influential than someone trying to sell to you. Harness the power of those with a passion for your industry
- Target those already separated into a group, music bloggers in this instance. Relevant content is still king
- Listen and engage with your consumers, especially those with a large social influence. Connection and interaction is key.
- Provide easy access to your product, often follow the ‘one-click’ rule
Check out Hoodie Allen’s new album at www.hoodieallen.com. Special thanks to Scott Shelton, Owner at www.WaitingToExplode.com for helping provide some insights into this social media success story.
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