Luke Armour, a good buddy of mine, a social media all-star, and the brilliant mind behind...wait for it... LukeArmour.com, has graciously agreed to guest post for today's edition of The Round Table. He covers a topic near and dear to my heart -- the integration of social media with music. Without further ado here's Luke's take on why you should pay attention to Jimmy Eat World....
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Because I'm not particularly hip and/or cool, I didn't become aware of Jimmy Eat World until their single, "The Middle," hit the mainstream in 2001. I liked what I heard. I remember going into a music store (we still had music stores back then) and picking up "Bleed American" and "Clarity." The clerk said to me, "big Jimmy Eat World fan?" to which I replied, "don't know yet."
It struck me as a pretty dumb question. I mean, how would I know? But, it turns out I WAS a big fan and neither the clerk or I knew it - although she had the sense to ask.
And while I love music from both a listener and musician standpoint, I hardly ever pay much attention to the bands behind the music. But Jimmy Eat World recently forced me to do so - and I'm glad. It all started with Facebook...
A while ago I "became a fan" of Jimmy Eat World on Facebook, which, for many fan sites means absolutely nothing. But Jimmy Eat World actually uses it. The most recent updates focused on the 10th anniversary celebration of their classic album Clarity. For 10 one-time-only shows beginning February 23 in New York City and concluding March 7 in the band's native Arizona, they played the album in its entirety. What a great way to point out to new fans that you have older stuff worth paying attention to. And the buzz was great, the shows sold out right quick.
Once I realized they were actually talking to me, the fan, it wasn't long before I started paying attention to them elsewhere. I started following them on Twitter, which, again, for many Twitter accounts means absolutely nothing - except maybe knowing what Jim had for breakfast [yawn]. But this was entertaining, interesting and - as it turns out -informative. I saw this tweet one day:
So I tuned in and it was awesome to watch. They were just in their studio, cranking out song after song, from an admittedly lousy camera angle, but it was like I was there. Sort of. You know what I mean. But using these channels to provide actual content - something unique and interesting - holy cow! Other bands should think about doing interesting things.
Jimmy Eat World has embraced the socializing of their brand so much, in fact, that the Jimmy Eat World website now redirects to the Clarity site, which is hosted on Ning. Which means the entire site is one big online social network. Pretty cool, especially if I want to see other fans's Jimmy Eat World tattoos. It turns out I don't, actually, want to see that. I mean, I just started paying attention to the band - I'm not sure I need to be that close to their ink-riddled fans. But you might be, so I think it's cool that you have a choice in the matter.
They're also pushing some interesting digital ideas around, like this message posted to their Facebook updates:
So I know what I'm doing on April 7th. And it's that kind of engagement and creativity that I wish more bands tapped into. I mean, it doesn't hurt that I love the music, too, but still...
3 comments:
This is great, Luke. As a fellow Jimmy Eat World fan it's great to hear!!
Luke - I love it that bands are embracing social media - the guys of Jimmy Eat World are doing it on what seems like a one-to-one basis. That's key, adds a level of authenticity vs. just playing in the space because they should. Thanks again for writing about this!
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Ruth
http://besttoddler.com
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