Music and Social Media – Amandine hits the right notes

Six million broadband users are estimated to download files illegally every year in the UK in a practice that music and film companies claim is costing them billions of pounds in lost revenue annually.

So what can music companies do to tackle music piracy? Two things spring to mind:
a) Fine illegal music downloaders (virtually impossible)
2) Be creative

I recently (legally) downloaded French singer Amandine Bourgeois’ first album and was pleasantly surprised to be given access to a VIP space on her website that includes an exclusive video diary, acoustic songs, photos and a fan forum where you can ask her questions.

Amandine also has a mandatory MySpace page, YouTube channel, Facebook profile, and interestingly a Netvibes page where all her content (including her Twitter feed) is aggregated.

By letting her fans know what’s going on behind the scenes, engaging in online conversations, and giving them exclusive freebies, Amandine is building herself a dedicated tribe of brand advocates who want to buy her music.

My only criticism is that her website is not social media friendly; I would like to see buttons redirecting to her various online profiles on the site’s homepage, d potentially a Twitter badge (assuming Amandine keeps up with the Twittering

I personally love her album and I’ll be following her footsteps through her online presences.

What other bands have stood out from the crowd online lately?