George Howard, the former president of the Rykodisc label stated that “Record labels in the future will concern themselves with all the heretofore locked assets that an artist has, and [with] utilizing music as a sort of gateway to a more dynamic relationship between artist and constituent.”

George’s comment illustrates the exact positioning of Fancorps.com, an online hub for street team management and promotion for music, film, video games, politics and sports.  Recently, Fancorps has been utilized to assemble the street team for latest season of American Idol’s 4^th place finisher, teenage pop-rocker Allison Iraheta.

I received a Facebook notification about the launch of Allison’s Fancorps street team, where I am a member of her fan page.  Allison also has an official Twitter account where she posted information about the street team launch.  I’ve been eagerly awaiting her December 1^st album release and this opportunity seemed like a perfect way to pass the time and help promote her debut record.

Allison was signed by 19 Recordings/Jive Records back in June, and the label is taking a grassroots, fan-based approach to her marketing efforts.  Social media is the main component of Allison’s street team, and members are prompted to choose which categories of street team promotions they want to be a part of: Allison’s Artists, Flyer Fans, MYSPACERS, Facebookers, Tweeps, and Telemundo Fans.

After joining Allison’s Fancorps street team, members are asked to complete “orders” which may include a variety of promotional tasks like posting Allison’s debut album cover to your Facebook Wall or submitting reasons why Allison should come to your hometown during her album press tour. Completed orders reward fans with points, which can be traded in for exclusive Allison merchandise.

Allison’s Fancorps page serves as a direct link to Allison herself and empowers her fans to spread the word about her new single and debut album. Fans get exclusive access to Allison’s music and assets, which help develop an intimate relationship between fan and artist.  Fancorps’s philosophy isn’t necessarily new, but its prominence and legitimacy in the digital marketing environment has grown exponentially since social media became valuable marketing channels.

Fancorps may not single-handedly make Allison Iraheta a star, but like Fanscape’s CEO, Larry Weintraub, mentioned in his assessment of the future of the music label, “The chances for becoming a star are slim. But they always have been.”

Me watching TV...sometimes.

The new Fall TV season is in full swing and my DVR is already 88% full. The one in the living room that is. The one in the bedroom is a healthy 56% full. Did I mention that I am a TV junkie.  It’s crazy, I know. Sigh.

Anyway, we recently brought you a case study on Online Fandom which talks a lot about targeting your audience. Now it’s time to talk a little bit about how we, the coveted viewer, are experiencing our shows and how our influence is helping to shape the direction of network and cable programming.

With every day life (like work, friends, family and you know all the important stuff) throwing one missed TV show obstacle at us at every opportunity, how does one make time to catch up on our favorite shows or see the new shows that have all the buzz of the new season? Hello TiVo and Hulu!

Big fan of the technology and can’t imagine life pre-DVR or pre-Hulu, even though it was only a few years ago. The advent and mainstream acceptance of this glorious technology along with the growth of message boards, fan pages and the marketing efforts by all the networks, has Americans more engaged in the viewing experience than ever before.

Think about it for a moment, how fanatical (and influential) the fans of Heroes and Lost are. I highlight these two shows in particular because the fans are so committed to the characters and story lines that even a small revolt can send waves through a production office.

A great example of the power of fan involvement; a few years back fans of the (now canceled) CBS show ‘Jericho’ were up in arms that their favorite show was pre-maturely canceled. They created an email and message board campaign as well as a how-to guide to urge CBS President, Les Moonves, to return their beloved show for an appropriate conclusion. The campaign included legions of fans sending, of all things, peanuts to CBS and Mr. Moonves’ office pleading to save their show. Their plight was galvanized online and provoked a strong call to action, resulting in saving the show for another season. Not to mention CBS gaining 20 tons of peanuts in the process. Power to the fans!

As a result of all these online tools that empower the fan, networks, producers and the show’s stars have picked up on the value of such fan involvement and have begun to truly embrace the relationship. So much so that these key players are going beyond attending the likes of Comic-Con and appearing on talk shows; they are actually participating in fan sites, message boards and networking groups.

The power of the fan has become more prevalent thanks to and because of the Internet and all the resources it contains At the end of the day, loyal viewers have established an outlet to significantly make a difference. And a difference we can make.

… we now return you to our regularly schedule programming.

For example late last year, the brand Motrin ran into issues while marketing their product to moms. As we watched online chatter come to its boiling point, one thing that was very intriguing was how much FREE data the brand was getting as a result. Motrin could now pinpoint specific social media areas where customers were discussing their brand. Twitter seemed to emerge as the front runner in terms of conversation ‘hotspots’, giving the brand a virtual road map on how to locate, and truly engage their core audience. Specific mommy bloggers became the brand’s marketing targets as online influencers, or the ‘gate keepers’ to getting information to their core audience.

Most recently popular R&B star Chris Brown is dealing with his own PR nightmare on top of some very serious legal troubles thanks to a late night incident with his mega star girlfriend Rihanna. While I’m sure social media marketing is on the bottom of his to-do list, other digital marketing professionals can learn key demographic information while this incident unfolds.

Where are Chris Brown and Rihanna fans talking about this incident?

How much are they talking about this incident? Is this audience most active during a specific time of day?

Are they new to social media, or, as I assume, are they veterans of the space?

After the celebrity, personality, corporation or brand has the necessary legal conversation most publicist or lawyers make arrangements to release a statement about the incident. In recent years, celebrities have issued statements on their website; some have a formal statement read to press. Why not explore other options more conducive to their audience? Possibly a statement released to fans via Twitter? A video blog on their website or social network? A direct statement to your Facebook fan page moderator? If the idea is to get information directly to your fans, then what better opportunity to do so when you, the brand or the celebrity is in your darkest hour?

TMZ revolutionized how traditional media outlets perceived online outlets – citing stories from gossip blogs and sites in their national broadcasts and asking Harvey Levin to speak as an expert guest.   In an ever-changing digital world the public is given free reign to consume only the news and media they care about. Put those two together, and a PR nightmare can end up giving back more then it may have taken. FREE data on your fans, your digital influencers and possibly a place to mend your strained relationship with fans by showing them they are the only opinion that matters.