You just rocked the house at a sizable gig. Everyone is filing out, and they dug your set. They all know who you are, but you don’t know them. Sure they’ve enjoyed your music, and a number of them could become ‘full fledged fans’, but what’s your plan to re-engage this audience in the future with your music?
Blogger Derek Sivers recently wrote an article (http://bit.ly/2cUVxM) highlighting a band’s alternative approach to selling albums at their live shows. I’ll let you go to Sivers’ blog for the full rundown, but here’s the band’s pitch:
“It’s really important to us that you have our CD. We worked so hard on it and are so proud of it, that we want you to have it, no matter what. Pay what you want, but even if you have no money, please take one tonight.”
Before the show ended, they would again call the audience asking no one to leave without a copy of the CD. And it worked. Sivers states that the band was able to make $1,200 a night in sales including those who took it for free.
Another, more web-based approach might look like this:
Before the night is out, you say to your eager audience “Thanks everyone for coming out. As a token of our appreciation we want to give you all something to walk away with. Grab a free download card from the merch table and you can redeem it online for our latest track.” Later in the set you can again pitch it and ask everyone to make sure to grab one before they leave as a thank you for coming out to the gig.
As the crowd is walking out, still groovin’ to the jams you just laid on them, they’re also holding onto something to remember you by. In one move you’ve brought them to your merch table at the gig (where they have a chance to buy) with a very good chance of them visiting your digital store (yet another chance to buy) to redeem the download card. Even better, the download cards offer your fans the chance to opt-in for your mailing list which paves they way for future interaction with those fans. Sound good?
2 Comments
Hmmm… the download card feels like a temporary technology for these transitional times.
If they take the card home, what’s the chance they’ll actually go to the trouble of firing it up, figuring out the system to enter it in, etc? (Yes it’s easy for you and me, but some people get very intimidated by these things.)
Instead, I think the more direct comparison would be when the performer can beam a song (or album) directly to everyone’s device from the stage. Whether they have an iPhone, Nokia phone, iPod or whatever – it could do a “receive” and maybe the system could be set up like a 900# where your cellphone bill gets charged to receive an incoming file.
Ah, the lovely future.
I like where you are going with it. The only issue I have is that such a method permits a chance of losing the attention of the fan. If the track is automatically beamed to their device, couldn’t it get lost amidst the other mp3/files on the device? It seems more likely that a well branded, aesthetically pleasing card or picture creates the potential to add more value and provides multiple chances to garner attention (a very difficult issue to overcome).
I recently bought the new Phoenix album on vinyl which came with a download card for digital redemption. The card had a nice picture of the band which, as I’ve been digging the band quite recently, I mounted it on my wall. Your fans should want the download card because it appeals to them. While automatic digital downloads would be sweet, it is one branded item given instead of two. This all of course relies on the smooth and intuitive download process which is of absolute necessity in this day and age.