Scavenger Hunts Killed the Bonus Track Star
posted in: Music News
If you’re an ingenious indie band, your wallet doesn’t have to be stuffed with Golden Tickets to play Willy Wonka. Hidden and/or free stuff can be a smart and inexpensive way to get a message out and bond with fans, who dig exclusive insider content, merchandise or info as a reward for loyalty.
These kinds of engagement programs can be traced back to the surprise bonus track. The most legendary? Train in Vain, that unaccounted for secret number that closed The Clash’s legendary 1979 LP London Calling. With nary a mention on the record’s jacket or label, punk fans started looking for hidden messages in music a la Paul is Dead: The Sequel. Flash forward a few years and the mystery bonus track is so common it appears to be a required CD marketing gimmick.
Available now through DJShadow.com
Scavenger hunts are the new surprise hidden bonus track. They range from extravagant international searches to one-zip-code contests. The latest? DJ Shadow. This month, NME reports he’s stashed two new vinyl tracks, “Def Surrounds Us” and “I’ve Been Trying” in random shops across Europe and the US while on tour. He’s dubbed the give-a-ways “shop-placing” as opposed to shoplifting, and it serves as a kind of anti- downloading statement. DJ Shadow seems to have cribbed the idea from guerrilla artist Banksy, who snuck into 48 music stores and switched 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s CD with his own remixes in 2006.
With Facebook and Twitter, artists often have thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions in some cases of fans looking for communication, sneak peeks and direction from their favorite artists. When done right, these fan armies can be an extremely effective online street team and can pass messages to exponential numbers of people, suggested Sam Ewen, CEO of New York-based experiential marketing agency Interference Inc. (Vespa and HBO are clients.) The price is nice, too.
Eminem uses Twitter to give out tickets to his concerts. (Ok… First 20 of you to Undftd. in Silverlake get a pair of passes to tonight’s Activision gig at Staples Center. I’ll be there. Go!” or First 50 fans in NYC that want to come TOMORROW night for my performance on LETTERMAN email: [redacted] Must be 25 yrs w/ID.) Not only does this tactic cause a frenzy with his million-plus followers, it gets media play and proves that brand EMINEM is a creative powerhouse.
Becky Ebenkamp is a pop cultural anthropologist and former West Coast Bureau Chief for Adweek Media. Becky has a radio show called “Bubblegum & Other Delights” that airs 7 to 9 PM PST every other Tuesday on www.killradio.org