VoIP Now: Skyping and VoIPing With Music Fans

July 06, 2006

Skyping and VoIPing With Music Fans

Alt-Rock band Coldplay, in a brilliant marketing move, embraced VoIP via a promotion launched by Skype and chatted a few minutes with a couple of adoring fans. Could this be the music promotional tool of the future? Want to watch a bit of a live show, anyone? Throw in video to get V²oIP, and fans will be going crazy, maybe to the point of wanting to pay for a few minutes of access.

Talking with musicians was something I did quite extensively in the early 90s, sometimes in person, often on the telephone, for all the interviews and profiles for my now dead print rag. And while musicians usually called me, on the record company's dime, sometimes I had to call. And it was costly back then. VoIP could have save me a bundle, had it existed.

A common problem, though, was that bands sometimes had to cancel calls because they were on the road and they'd lost their calling code. Or it was nasty cold outside and standing in a phone booth wasn't an option. Or insert any reason here. VoIP means not having to stand in a phone booth. Unless you want to.

Now, with an application like Skype, bands can do meet + greets with journalists/ bloggers, participate in interviews, run CD promotions, and generally communicate with fans and other interested parties. Having multi-person chats with bloggers - bloggasm anyone? - could reduce or even replace the mass interview sessions musicians sometimes have to do, and typically detest, on a daily basis during a tour.

Keeping in touch with fans, in particular, is more than possible with VoIP applications, and it might just be a way for record companies to revitalize the industry and deflect attention from music downloading.

Heck, I'd pay a few bucks to talk a few minutes with some musicians. And now that eBay owns Skype, I wouldn't be surprised if musicians started auctioning off a few minutes to play a custom tune over Skype for some lucky bidder.

--
Did you enjoy this post?

July 6, 2006 in Solutions | Permalink