National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
When the biggest names in music assemble for The GRAMMY Awards, it's pretty much a given that fans will be all over their favorite social media channels. Or, as one NPR commentator put it: "If you're not watching the GRAMMYs while tweeting from your phone, updating your Facebook status, reading a live blog, and participating in a poll to determine which song Bon Jovi will perform during the show, you might as well be staring slack-jawed at cave drawings of Perry Como."
That said, having an entertainment property with built-in social media buzz isn't the same as leveraging that buzz. At the center of that buzz is GRAMMY Live, a platform that seamlessly integrates multiple social channels alongside live streaming video of the event. GRAMMY Live isn't the only social media initiative. Two years ago, "We're All Fans" aggregated fan-generated YouTube videos into a giant collection of web tributes to nominees. And last year, the show took social to the local level with "Music Is Life Is Music," which invited fans to tag places with videos, photos, and messages telling a personal story about their connection to their favorite music. That content was then visualized on an interactive map.
So far, the strategy has paid off. According to The New York Times, The GRAMMYs have rebounded in the ratings department. More important for an industry decimated by the digital revolution, social media campaigns around The GRAMMYs have even driven sales.
