Webtallica

Jacobs Media's Eric Holmes weighs in on Metallica's new website:

I’d like you to meet the newest Jacobs Media client, our first band - Metallica!  Well… OK, so we’re not consulting Metallica, but it definitely looks like they got the W.T.D.A. memo.  (Or maybe they could have written it!)

Their new website is called Mission: Metallica.  While they could’ve just sat back, released the new album and hoped for the best from their old fans, they decided to step it up.

After the debacle called St. Anger, it was obviously clear to Metallica and their management that a different approach was necessary.  And in this case, they’ve done a nice job integrating a standard event – the release of a new album – with a cool digital platform.

The new site includes video blogs of the band writing and recording in the studio, riffs from the new album and more.  The message states, “Experience the new album before it’s done.”  While it’s clearly fan-centric, this is a band that needs to embrace its minions – their original believers and those who discovered the band in the mid-‘90s.

This kind of site is the smartest thing Metallica could’ve done.  By creating solid digital content, they’re going to help raise awareness through e-mailing, IMing and MySpace/Facebook postings of their material.  When you give people a reason to check you out every day, you create an excitement and relevancy that hasn’t been there.

Digital content is going to be the key to almost every industry going forward.  Even through all that loud head-banging, it looks like Metallica got the memo.