Social Media takes a Leak— Strategies tought by Britney Spears No comments yet
Add “leaking” media to your deck of social media strategies. My case study—Britney Spears’ new album, “Blackout”.
How cool did I feel two months ago when a buddy of mine e-mailed me a torrent of Britney’s “Leaked” album. The Social Media Guy had the inside scoop. Who doesn’t love an exclusive? What did I care about Britney’s drunken performance and losing battle over her children’s custody, I had her unreleased album and I liked it! I was the Walt Mossberg of Britney.
Two weeks later…
Billboard magazine released the track list and they DO NOT match mine. I had bragged about my Britney exclusive in vain. I either had a fake Britney album or these songs just weren’t part of her new album. Then I started thinking, what are the chances of Britney giving birth to two great albums at the same time?
A week later…
My “exclusive” leaked album started burning through pop and music blogs like wild wife . I didn’t know what to think. Neither did the music bloggers. They were all questioning and speculating and then it hit me…Leaking on purpose is genius! Yesterday, a day before her release, MTV posted her whole album on “The Leak”. My gut feeling was confirmed. In a nutshell, this is how Britney played us:
- Those who got the first leaked album had to share it with all their friends. After all, how cool are you if you have her album 2 months before it comes out.
- This leads to Music bloggers Gone Wild
- Jive Records publishes a different track list than the leaked torrent and again, Blogger Gone Wild.
- The day before the album is released; MTV releases the official “Leaked” album. MTV gets record high visits and all of us who had the first leaked album rejoice over knowing all the words before the album is even released…Big deal.
- I go out and buy the freaking album—the first I’ve bought in 10 months. I have to. I have no choice. It has been leaked and re-leaked and there I’ve been speculating, sharing, blogging, posting, Facebooking. Her VMA performance flooded YouTube, her album leaking strategy burned through the music blogs and social networks and now she’s sitting back as “Blackout” flies off the shelves.
My favorite song of the album: “Get Naked”