Flaming Lips Ticket Bundle Giveaway Teaches Us Tips on List Building

Posted by Albert Costill on Aug 21, 2009 in Marketing | Comments

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The Flaming Lips are currently on tour in the U.S. and there’s a nice incentive for buying tickets, beside witnessing one of the coolest rock spectacles ever.

When you buy tickets online you’ll receive a code to receive three new songs, three B-sides and a copy of the show you attended. Seriously, what more can you ask for?

Yeah, getting a lot of free stuff is awesome, but here’s what makes the Lips ticket bundle stand out.

Previewing New Songs

The three new songs (“Convinced of the Hex,” “The Impulse,” and “Silver Trembling Hands”) will be a sample of the band’s next album Embryonic, which is slated for an October 13 release. Usually we’re used to one, maybe two songs, getting unveiled prior to an album’s release.

Having three or more is either ballsy or brilliant. When a band does something like this they’re saying that this album is so good that we can give you three songs and you’ll want more, so you’ll buy the album. It’s a simplistic method of promoting your new album without the traditional marketing vehicles.

Getting B-sides

Die hard fans LOVE any rarity that a band has stashed away. While casual fans may not dig it as much, your devoted fan base will it eat up. This is just a hassle free way of saying thank you to your fans.

Getting a Bootleg

Bootlegs of shows I’ve attended are always my favorite, and best, mementos. Bands like Pearl Jam and The Black Crowes have perfected this, but I’ve never seen a band give a bootleg away. It not only saves your fans some cash, it’s another thank you and even a great way to promote your band.

Think about it. You give fans a free copy of one of your shows and they had a great experience. Now they’re going to spread the word. One of the easiest ways would be for them so share the bootleg, since it’s a compilation of all your music and it showcases how great you are live.

Getting more people on your e-mail list

When you go to receive your goodies, you have to redeem them by setting up an account on the Lips website. What does this do? It now gives the Lips a bunch of new people signed up on their list. This means that they now have more people to send newsletters to, and make money out of down the road.

While giving away all these downloads away in one shot may be too much, you can always pick and choose what you want and when to do it. Maybe start out by giving away some new tunes and build up that fanbase. Maybe during the holidays give fans that have signed up for your newsletter a B-side as a thank you.

Now you may be thinking to yourself that only successful, Grammy winning bands can get away with something like this. Well, guess again.

With tools like ReverbNation and the training in Label 2.0, YOU too can give away digital singles, B-sides, or whatever you want to your fans, and build your own list.