The music industry and the internet have had a tumultuous relationship to say the least. Ten years ago, record labels started to worry when people began sharing music with one another using networks like Napster. Artists were angry that they were losing money from record sales and began taking action against those illegally downloading music. Years later, some record labels and artists still avoid the internet, but some have embraced it and used it to their advantage.

One of my favorite groups, the Dave Matthews Band, is a prime example. Coincidentally their most recent album release is a great case study of how social media can be used to promote a new album.

DMB has always recognized the power of word of mouth. Much, if not all of their tremendous success and 18 years together has come from organic sharing and conversation about their music. When they started touring in the mid 90's fans who saw them live began recording cassette tapes at concerts. They'd mail them to their friends across the country and those friends would then do the same. Soon enough, everyone was talking about the band's music and live performances.
 
Fast forward to 2009, cassette tapes are extinct but social media is alive and well. Let's look at the various ways the band has employed social media tools to promote their newest album, Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux.

• Pandora--the band gave people the ability to listen to the album in its entirety, for free, before its official release date.

 

• Twitter--two band members, Dave Matthews @DaveJMatthews and bassist Stefan Lessard @SLessard have accounts. Dave tweeted while the band was recording in New Orleans, sharing glimpses of the process with his 794,406 followers.

 

• Hulu--the band's page had a live stream of their concert at Beacon Theatre, which took place the night before the album release. It gave fans the opportunity to see what they are known for--performing live.

  

• Forums-- DMB forums are where both hardcore and new fans go to discuss everything DMB, and discussion boards were definitely buzzing about the new album. One forum, Antsmarching.org has a Twitter account that shares news and updates (@antsmarching) and also does live tweets (@dmblive) during concerts, sharing set lists in real time with those that can't be at every show.

 

• Facebook, MySpace & YouTube--the bands official Facebook page shares news and photos. Two band members have MySpace pages, letting fans interact one on one.  The YouTube channel has videos of live performances and music videos.

 
Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King debuted at number one on Billboard 200 and sold 424,000 records in its first week.Hopefully other artists will take notice and realize that the music and the internet can work hand in hand to create organic word of mouth, resulting in impressive record sales.