Singing Your Supporters A Love Song
Relationships are a two-way street. This important mantra isn’t only important for relationships between friends and family, it is equally as important for relationships between consumers and brands especially in the entertainment industry. Hero worship went out the door with the proliferation of social media . . . now the dynamics have changed!
Grammy-nominated artist Sara Bareilles is unstoppable. She has taken over the music charts with self-affirming hits such as ‘Love Song’, ‘King of Anything’ and her most recent ‘Brave’. She has been a judge on NBC’s The Sing-Off. She is currently writing the music and lyrics for a Broadway staging of cult indie film Waitress. And she has an incredibly loyal group of supporters behind her with each new album release. But there is something which separates her from certain other pop stars.
She gives back to the supporters.
I mentioned that relationships were a two-way street. In order to create a successful, long-lasting, invested relationship, the value must go both ways. Many years ago, the music industry was based solely on hero worship because famous recording stars were well out reach from their fans. Twitter and other social media platforms have changed that dynamic as fans are now only a tweet away from their favourite celebrity or recording artist. This means that the laws of relationships can now relate to superstar artists.
If you want to create loyal supporters, you need to make sure that the value isn’t purely going to the artist but also to the supporters. Something which Sara Bareilles does incredibly well!
I wrote previously about her involvement in the Kinky Boots ‘Just Be’ campaign where she is an ambassador for being yourself and the proliferation of music through the community and now she has found another way to give back to her supporters with her latest music video.
‘I Choose You’, the second single off her latest album The Blessed Unrest, has recently released a music video. But it’s not any old music video. She has taken the opportunity to highlight two of her fans through this song. The call went out earlier in the year for fans who wanted Sara Bareilles to help them celebrate a significant moment in their lives and two lucky supporters were chosen to have Sara Bareilles sing as part of their elaborate proposals to their partners. It is these couples’ stories which have formed the bulk of the music video.
This action of acknowledging the time these fans have dedicated to her through purchasing, listening and promoting her music is crucial to her popularity. Even though she hasn’t performed at every fan’s proposal, by giving back a bit of her time with this simple gesture to two couples she has made every supporter feel that their contribution has been valued. And if supporters feel valued then they will continue to invest their own time in listening, purchasing and most importantly sharing her music.
With that in mind, check out her amazing ‘I Choose You’ music video below.
