iLike

«R.E.M. this week lets fans listen to the new album, Accelerate, on the iLike social network a week before it goes on sale. "We hope it will get a lot of exposure, and people will recommend it to their friends, and hopefully some of them will go out and buy the record as well," says band manager Bertis Downs.

For artists and labels, building word of mouth about an album or tour is paramount. And they're tapping into the growing music-based social networking scene to spread the word. Magazine covers and TV and radio interviews don't carry the weight of the Web, and as features evolve, R.E.M.'s website and MySpace page were not enough, Downs says. Since its beginnings in summer 2006 as a social network for finding and recommending music, iLike.com has grown to 23 million members, says CEO Ali Partovi. As the community grew, iLike added features for artists to post videos and news; meanwhile, Partovi began approaching artists and labels about providing content to iLike.

One mid-November discussion Partovi had with Bono turned into a video interview in which the U2 frontman sang a just-finished song, Wave of Sorrow. Once posted, it was viewed and forwarded by more than 1 million within a week. Then Keith Urban signed on to post weekly videos and to offer tour ticket presales and fan events.

"The Internet basically empowers consumers to get exactly what they want and artists to put out exactly what they want," Partovi says.»

fonte: «Music scene finds latest hot spots on social sites», Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 24/03/08