Maximo Park (if you’re over 25 or live outside the UK - they’re a popular beat combo) are moblogging their latest tour, which seems a fabulous use of the medium.
The band will be posting from the tour via their Nokia N-Series phones, giving fans an ongoing and intimate (presumably not THAT intimate) insight into life with the band on the road. Fans can also post their own photos and the best one chosen by the band every week gets to win a Nokia themselves.
The initiative is hosted by Moblog UK, the brainchild of blogger, Alfie Dennen. One of the key benefits these guys bring to the party is 24/7 moderation, which is probably important for both band and fan postings.
Nokia also deserves as honourable mention for sponsoring without insisting on plastering their branding all over the place. Less is definitely more in this case.
I strongly suspect that this will become a pretty standard feature for bands from here on in. It appeals to the “artist” in them for sure, but the great benefit is that it helps create a real bond with their fan base. And in case you missed it, that bond is direct - cutting out the record company, as well as the media, who hitherto have controlled most band:public dialogue.
The bond between the artist and his fans is mediated through this new media of moblogging, just as it was before mediated through the record companies or other Medias. It should be noted though as it comes to moblogging - this mediation becomes less seen and more illusive\deceptive of bond or intimacy.
This tour reminds other marketing activities held lately, that related technology with a musical brand, like Apple’s U2 ipod campaign.
Xen - not sure I agree with you there, other than perhaps on a purely philosophical point.
The band are all equipped with camera phones that they upload straight to the Moblog UK website. Ditto the public.
Any moderation that goes on is purely for obscenity, nude shots etc. It’s not “edited” in a formal way.
Obviously, the band will (probably) be selective in the photos they take and upload and display photos consistent with the band’s brand.
In that sense, yes I agree, we’re seeing a distorted image of what life of the road is like. Just as we all choose to present a certain image to the world of what we’re really like everyday.
But the point I’m making is it’s the band who choose that spin, not the media or record companies.
With tens of thousands of fans and only one band, any sense of intimacy is going to be illusory. But it will make fans feel closer to the band and I can’t see that’s a bad thing.
Not sure I see the connection with U2, other than it’s music. One mechanic was to sell iPods (and U2 arguably benefited from being associated with an ubercool gadget) and one is about communication and dialogue by a band with their fan base, facilitated with an ubercool gadget. Completely different things, no? With different objectives.
Cheers
Russell