GRAMMY Nominees Use Social Web to Increase Audience

Last night, the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards’ nominees were announced in 20 different fields. Among some of them were urban music powerhouses Lalah Hathaway, Ledisi, Maxwell, Eric Roberson, and Foreign Exchange. What’s special about these nominees though is how each has used the popular social networking sites, online video, blogging, and podcasting to both increase and interact with their respective fan bases.

Hathaway and Foreign Exchange are no strangers to the online video realm. Hathaway is regularly featured on Rahsaan Patterson’s YouTube channel as part of the “LAH! and RAH! Show”. Foreign Exchange’s YouTube account shows all their videos, as well as behind-the-scenes and concert footage. Eric Roberson, Ledisi, and Maxwell also have official YouTube channels with similar content.

All the aforementioned artists are also very active on Twitter and Facebook, where they can reply back to their fans and mention when they’ll be in their city for their next performance. Eric Roberson’s blog chronicles his journey as an independent artist since February 2007, and includes photos and video from his travels. Phonté — ½ of Foreign Exchange — does a frequent podcast called Gordon Gartrell Radio, where he talks about Foreign Exchange, spins tunes with DJ Brainchild, and answers viewer questions about a number of topics.

And not be outdone are the GRAMMYs themselves. Aside from live tweeting the nominees, they also brought in reactions and retweets from followers and GRAMMY nominees and had Twitter lists for nominees, performers, and “community bloggers”, which included tweets from ten of the web’s top music bloggers. Their Facebook page includes videos and behind-the-scenes photos from the nomination concert. The Academy has also launched “WE’RE ALL FANS”, a site with user-generated content that loads in tweets, YouTube videos, and Flickr photos submitted to the site. This content will also become part of the GRAMMYs ad campaign and will be featured on the night of the event.

Click here for a full list of this year’s GRAMMY nominees. Check out the GRAMMYs Sunday, January 31 at 8pm EST on CBS.